THI 

Utter  ____ 

X*  X  38  j6?L  xk.  JcS.  ^C 

OF  THE 

:OIX)rxICAL    SEMINARY, 

AT 

PRI]VCETON,  Bf.  J. 

DONATION     <<^^ 

S  A  M  11  K  L    A  a  N  K  W  , 

OF     PHILADELPHIA,    PA. 

BV  4501  .C84  1854 
Gumming,  John,  1807-1881. 
Benedictions 


BENEDICTIONS; 


THE    BLESSED    LIFE 


BY    TH] 


REV.  JOHN  GUMMING,  D.D., 

MINISTER  OF  THE    SCOTTISH  NATIONAL  CHURCH,  CRO-WN-COCRT,  COVENT  GARDEN 


"  It  may  be  glorious  to  write 
Thoughts  that  shall  glad  the  t\ro  or  three 
High  souls,  like  those  far  stars  that  come  in  sight 

Once  in  a  century  : 
But  better  far  it  is  to  speak 
One  simple  word,  which  now  and  then 
Shall  waken  a  new  nature  in  the  weak 

And  sinful  sons  of  men." 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED   BY  JOHN  P.  JE^^ETT  AND   COMPANY. 

CLEVELAND,    OHIO: 

JEWETT,  PKOCTOR,  AND  WORTinNGTON. 

NEW    YOKK  :     SUELDOX,    LAMPORT    A^"D    BLAKEMAX. 

1854. 


STEREOTYPED     BT 

HOBART   &    ROBBIJSrS, 

NEW  ENGLAND   TYPE   AND   STEREOTYPE   FOUNDERT, 
BOSTON. 


PREFACE 


All  are  not  agreed  on  the  nature  of  the  constituent  elements 
of  the  Blessed  Life.  Several  writers  of  the  rationalistic  school 
think  it  can  be  realized  on  earth,  irrespective  of,  and  even  in  direct 
opposition  to,  Christianity.  The  failure  of  Heathendom  in  the 
same  pursuit,  by  such  means,  does  not  convince  them  of  their 
inefl&ciency. 

The  truth  is,  no  sharpening  of  the  intellect,  nor  opiate  admin- 
istered to  the  conscience,  nor  accession  to  the  weight  and  splendor 
of  outward  circumstances,  can  secure  the  enjoyment  of  this  life. 
The  seat  of  the  disease,  and  therefore  of  the  disquiet  of  humanity, 
lies  deep  in  the  unsanctified  heart.  The  cure  must  begin  where 
the  parent  evil  lurks.  The  Benediction  of  God  alone  struck  upon 
the  heart  will  send  forth  a  holy  and  happy  injQuence,  that  will 
transform  the  whole  nature,  freshen  life's  parched  places,  and 
make  its  deserts  blossom  as  the  rose.  There  is  no  Blessed  Life 
without  Him  who  blesses,  and  we  are  blessed.  There  may  be  no 
worldly  goods,  or  gay  dwellings,  or  purple  and  fine  linen  ;  but,  if 
there  be  the  presence  and  the  benediction  of  the  Great  High 
Priest,  there  will  be  felt  a  peace  and  joy  far  richer  than  wealth 


IV  PREFACE. 

can  buy  or  power  bestow.  They  who  labor  to  inculcate  the 
possibility  of  this  happy  life  without  Christianity  do  their  best 
to  quench  or  darken  the  pure  fire  from  heaven  that  burns  on  the 
lighthouse,  and  to  substitute  that  bale-fire  which  only  deceives 
the  voyager  to  his  eternal  ruin.  If  this  volume  teach  any  that 
the  element  of  this  Blessed  Life  descends  from  above,  and  can  be 
collected  from  no  earthly  cistern,  and  touches  the  heart  before  it 
transforms  the  outward  life,  it  will  have  fulfilled  its  mission. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I. 

OLAD  MUSIC, 19 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE   FAVORED    PEOPLE, 36 

CHAPTER    III. 

THE  HAPPY  HEIRS   OF  THE  KINGDOM, 49 

CHAPTER    IV. 

SORROW  SWEETENED, .     60 

CHAPTER    V. 

earth's  RIGHTFUL  HEIRS,      • 71 

CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  HUNGRY  FILLED  WITH  GOOD  THINGS,  . 85 

CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  TWICE  BLESSED, 99 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

BEATITUDE  OP  THE  PURE  IN  HEART, 114 

1# 


Page 

128 


YI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  HAPPY   FAMILY, 

CHAPTER    X. 

THE    NOBLE  AEMY   OP  MARTYRS, 143 

CHAPTER    XI. 

BLESSEDNESSES, 1^" 

CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  JOYOUS   FESTIVAL,  .    .     .    .     • •    .  169 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE   BLESSED  WATCHMAN, 178 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE  HOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAJD, 191 

CHAPTER    XV. 

BREAD  FOR  THE  BLESSED  LIFE, 203 

CHAPTER    X^I. 

REFRESHMENT  AND   REST, ^ 213 

CHAPTER   XVII.. 

THE  BLESSED    MOTHER, 220 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE  ONLY  ABSOLUTION, 232 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE  WAY   OP  THE  BLESSED  LIFE, 243 

CHAPTER   XX. 

COBIPLETE  IN   CHRIST, 254 


CONTENTS.  Vn 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

Pa?9 
THE  BLESSED   PROMISE, 2C1 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

"WORDS   OF  ETERNAL  LIFE, 275 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

TEMPLE  LIFE,    .     .     • 290 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

THE  APOSTOLIC  BLESSING 294 


A 

PEN  AND  INK  SKETCH 
/ 

OF   THE 

REV.  JOHN   GUMMING,  D.D., 

OF  THE  SCOTCH  CHURCH,   CROAVN-COURT,   LONDON. 

BY  JOHN  ROSS  DIX. 


Who  does  not  know,  either  by  repute  or  from  personal  observa- 
tion, that  enormous  building  which  casts  its  broad  shadow  across 
Drury  Lane,  and  which  looms  up  like  a  Titan  from  among  the 
dark,  dingy  buildings  by  which  it  is  surrounded  ?  Who,  as  he 
gazes  upon  it,  does  not  call  to  mind  that  within  its  walls  the 
greatest  histrionic  triumphs  have  been  achieved,  and  that  in  ita 
atmosphere  the  brightest  constellations  of  the  firmament  of  dra- 
matic genius  have  arisen,  shone  with  dazzling  splendor,  and  have 
either  gradually  declined,  or  been  suddenly  quenched  hi  darkness  ? 
The  place  is  rich  in  associations.  There  Kemble  charmed  by  his 
eloquence  ;  there  Kean  revealed  Shakspeare's  conceptions  by  the 
lightning-flashes  of  his  own  genius.  There  Siddons  startled,  and 
O'Neill  unsealed  the  fountains  of  tears  ;  and  there,  too,  a  host  of 
other  great  actors  and  actresses,  who  are  now  seen  no  more,  have 
fretted  their  "  hour  upon  the  stage."  Fire,  more  than  once,  has 
desolated  this  great  temple  of  the  Drama  ;  but,  phoenix-like,  it 
has  each  time  arisen  from  its  ashes  ;  and  "  Old  Drury,"  shorn 
indeed  of  its  ancient  glories,  still  remains  a  home  alike  for  the 
expositor  of  Shakspeare  and  the  equestrian  of  the  circle  ;  a  jDlace 


10  A   PEN  AND  INK   SKETCH   OP 

where  on  one  night  Hamlet  soliloquizes,  and  on  the  next  the  clown 
elicits  deafening  applause  by  that  "  daring  act  of  equestrianism," 
the  riding  on  his  horse's  tail ! 

But,  reader,  we  are  not  at  present  bound  for  the  theatre.  At 
the  first  glance  it  may  seem  strange  that  we  should  have  com- 
menced our  sketch  of  a  renowned  minister  of  the  gospel  by  a 
reference  to  a  play-house  ;  but,  we  have  taken  Drury  Lane  Theatre 
as  a  sort  of  landmark,  which  may  indicate  to  those  at  a  distance 
the  precise  locality  of  another  building,  to  which  we  shall  now 
more  especially  refer. 

It  is  the  morning  of  the  Sabbath.  From  scores  of  church-tow- 
ers sound  forth  the  "  church-going  bells,"  and  we,  with  thousands 
of  others,  hurry  along  the  streets  towards  one  of  the  many  hun- 
dred places  of  worship,  which  deck,  like  oases,  the  great  moral 
metropolitan  desert.  Leaving  the  Strand  on  our  right,  we  entei 
Covent  Garden  —  its  market-place  now  silent,  and  ahnost  for- 
saken ;  and,  crossing  that  far-famed  locality,  we  cross  Bow-street 
pass  under  the  colonnade  of  the  theatre,  and,  when  half-waj 
through  it,  step  over  the  narrow  strip  of  road-way,  and  enter 
Crown-court.  A  stranger  might  pass  the  entrance  to  this  obscure 
thoroughfare  a  hundred  times,  and  never  suspect  that  a  building 
of  any  magnitude  was  within  a  dozen  yards  of  him  ;  but,  were 
he  to  lift  his  eyes,  he  might  perceive,  overhead,  an  inscrij)tion  in- 
forming him  that  there  was  situated  Crown-court  church. 

"We  enter  the  court,  and  the  Scotch  church  is  on  our  left  hand. 
As  a  building  it  has  few  claims  to  architectural  consideration,  be- 
ing of  no  particular  order,  but  rather  of  all  the  orders  so  blended 
that  the  distinctive  features  of  no  one  can  be  made  out.  The 
gallery  stairs  are  outside  the  front,  presenting  rather  a  curious 
appearance  ;  but  limited  space,  we  presume,  occasioned  the  un- 
Bightly  arrangement.     However  that  might  be,  we  must  not  stay 


THE   REV.    JOHN   CDMMING,    D.  D.  11 

to  speculate  upon  it ;  hundreds  upon  hundreds  are  passing  up 
those  stairs,  and  squeezing  into  the  side  doors  ;  and  "  the  cry  is, 
still  they  come."  Carriage  after  carriage  is  setting  down  its  freight 
of  fashion  ;  cab  after  cab  drives  up,  from  which  gentlemen  hur- 
riedly leap,  and  make  their  way  to  the  doors  of  the  edifice,  and 
an  unbroken  stream  of  pedestrians  flows  in  from  either  end  of 
Crown-court.  Watch  for  a  moment  the  countenances  of  the 
church-goers ;  there  is  as  much  curiosity  and  anxiety  depicted 
ypon  them  as  might  be  witnessed  in  the  faces  of  the  impatient 
muititude  who  throng  the  doors  of  old  Drury  on  the  first  night 
of  a  new  piece.  And  well  may  such  interest  be  evinced  ;  for  this 
morning  one  of  the  most  renowned  preachers  of  the  day  is  to 
preach  on  an  all-absorbing  topic.  Cardinal  Wiseman  has  sounded 
forth  his  trumpet-note  of  Romish  defiance,  and  now  the  Prot- 
estant champion  is  about  to  enter  the  lists. 

"We  are  at  length  in  the  Scotch  church.  It  is  a  large,  oblong 
building  ;  a  gallery  deep  and  commodious  running  round  one  of 
the  long  and  two  of  the  short  sides  —  the  pulpit  being  placed  in 
the  centre  of  the  other  long  side.  The  only  national  emblems  to 
be  seen  are  the  thistle-shaped  ground-glass  shades  of  the  gas-lights, 
and  a  thistle  or  two  in  the  painted  glass  windows.  In  all  other 
respects  the  place  resembles  an  English  dissenting  chapel. 

How  densely  the  church  is  crowded  !  —  and  how  aristocratic 
appears  the  congregation  !  We  are  prepared  for  the  "  quality," 
by  the  glimpse  we  just  now  had  outside  of  luxurious-looking  car- 
riages, with  strawberry-leaved  coronets  on  their  panels.  Let  us, 
before  we  speak  of  the  minister,  glance  for  a  moment  at  his  con- 
gregation ;  for,  sitting  quietly  in  some  of  the  pews,  are  men  of 
mark. 

Near  the  pulpit,  on  its  left  side,  and  in  a  secluded  place  under 
the  gallery,  sit  a  gentleman  and  lady,  with  two  little  children. 


12  A   PEN   AND   INK    SKETCH   OP 

The  gentleman  is  of  diminutive  stature  ;  his  head  is  large,  and 
thinly  covered  v^ith  dark-brovra  hair,  vvhich  carelessly  sweeps 
across  his  capacious  forehead.  His  eyes  are  keen  and  cold,  the 
nose  longish  and  slightly  turned  up  at  its  point,  the  movith  thin- 
lipped  and  compressed.  Two  apologies  for  whiskers  appear  just 
below  the  prominent  cheek-bones.  As  a  whole,  the  countenance 
is  indicative  of  intellectual  acquirements  ;  but  it  wants  energy  of 
expression,  or  rather  the  expression  of  energy.  There  is  some- 
thing of  insignificance  about  it.  But  its  owner  is  no  insignificant 
personage  ;  for  the  little  man  who  sits  so  quietly  in  that  shaded 
pew  is  the  Prime  Minister  of  England,  Lord  John  Paissell,  and 
those  who  sit  beside  him  are  his  wife  and  children. 

Not  far  from  the  premier  is  to  be  observed  a  gentleman  tall  and 
robust-looking.  His  face  is  florid  and  plump.  He  resembles  a 
well-to-do  country  gentleman,  rather  than  a  member  of  the  titled 
aristocracy.  Nevertheless,  he  is  a  lord.  It  is  Lord  Ducie,  an 
amiable  nobleman  enough,  we  believe,  but  who  is  not  likely  to 
rival  Brougham.  He  is  a  regular  attendant  on  Dr.  Cumming's 
ministry.  We  might  point  out  many  other  noticeable  people,  but 
that  would  be  travelling  out  of  the  record,  perhaps  ;  and,  indeed, 
by  the  spontaneous  rising  of  the  congregation,  and  the  sudden 
bursting  forth  of  harmonious  voices,  we  are  reminded  that  the 
service  has  commenced. 

"  Beautiful  exceedingly"  is  the  singing  at  the  Scotch  church. 
There  is  no  organ  ;  but  it  is  evident  that  the  choir  requires  not 
the  aid  of  that  king  of  musical  instruments.  Never  have  we 
heard  better  congregational  singing  than  at  Dr.  Cumming's  ;  all 
may  easily  join  in  it,  and  indeed  all  present  did,  —  at  least,  so  it 
seemed  to  us.  Clear  and  distinct  in  its  silvery  sweetness  was  one 
female  voice,  which  reminded  us  of  that  of  Jenny  Lind  ;  and  we 
have  since  heard  that  the  lady  to  whom  it  belongs  is  generally 


THE    REV.    JOHN    CUMMIXO,    D.  D.  13 

known  as  the  nightingale  of  Crown-court  church.  Long,  say  we, 
may  she  warble  thus  deliciously,  and  in  some  humble  measure 
prepare  us,  while  on  earth,  for  joining  in  the  far  more  melodious 
and  never-ceasing  anthems  of  the  skies  ! 

The  psahn  of  praise  and  thankfulness  has  ceased  ;  the  congre- 
gation are  seated,  and  the  minister  of  the  place  ascends  the  stairs 
which  lead  to  the  pulpit.  He  is  the  observed  of  all  observers. 
Every  eye  is  fixed  upon  him  ;  but,  on  his  assuming  the  attitude 
of  prayer,  each  head  is  bowed,  reverence  banishes  curiosity,  and 
a  deep,  solemn  hush  pervades  the  place. 

The  prayer  commences.  It  is  an  extemporaneous  one,  and,  as 
all  prayers  should  be,  it  is  deeply  fervent  and  devotional.  We 
have,  before  now,  been  absolutely  disgusted  with  some  exercises 
of  this  kind  ;  for  there  are  ministers  whom  we  could  name  who 
have  a  vile  habit  of  talking  at  God,  instead  of  praying  to  him. 
They  exhibit  a  familiarity  when  addressing  the  Deity  which  illus- 
trates the  fact  that 

"  Fools  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread," 

and  which  painfully  affects  many  who  hear  them.  John  Foster, 
one  of  the  profoundest  thinkers  of  the  age,  pointedly  refers  to 
this  practice,  and  severely  reprobates  it,  in  his  essay  "  On  the 
Aversion  of  Men  of  Taste  to  Evangelical  Religion."  Dr.  Gum- 
ming's  prayer  was  a  model  of  its  kind  ;  there  were  no  tiresome 
repetitions,  no  daring  approaches  to  the  Divine  presence,  no  pre- 
sumptuous requests.  All  was  solemnity,  humility  and  devotion, 
and  the  fervent  aspirations  of  the  creature  to  its  Greater. 

The  prayer  is  ended.     Another  hymn  has  been  sung,  and  the 

preacher  rises  to  commence  his  discourse.     But  before  he  does  so 

let  us  occupy  a  moment  or  two  in  sketching  his  portrait,  faithfully 

as  may  be  with  pen  and  ink,  as  he  now  stands  in  the  sacred  desk. 

2 


14  A    PEN    AND   INK    SKETCH   OF 

The  preacher  is  of  the  middle  height,  perhaps  rather  above  it ; 
but,  attired  as  he  is  in  clerical  robes,  one  is  apt  to  be  deceived  in 
such  a  matter,  which,  after  all,  is  not  of  any  great  importance, 
if  we  agree  with  Dr.  Watts,  that  the  "  mind  is  the  standard  of 
the  man."  Dr.  Cumming's  face  is  a  remarkably  fine  one.  A 
glance  at  it  might  convince  any  ordinary  observer  that  it  belongs 
to  one  whose  mind  is  not  of  the  common  stamp.  Look  at  that 
high,  broad  forehead,  across  which  dark,  very  dark  hair  sweeps. 
revealing  the  ample  temples,  and  behind  that  barrier  of  bone  you 
will  feel  assured  is  a  brain  of  uncommon  capacity.  We  are  no 
great  believers  in  the  speculations  of  phrenology,  and  regard, 
without  exception,  those  wiseacres  who  parcel  out  the  brain-field 
as  they  would  a  potato-patch,  as  sumphs  ;  but  we  know  that  in 
a  well-formed  and  capacious  cranium  may  generally  be  found  the 
true  mental  coin,  which  rings  as  well  as  shines.  Such  a  head  has 
B».  Gumming,  and  sterling  is  the  golden  store  which  is  coined  in 
the  cerebral  mint.  Two  eyebrows,  large,  well-arched  and  black, 
overshadow  a  pair  of  dark  eyes,  of  a  serious  and  fearless  expres- 
sion. The  nose  is  slightly  aquiline,  but  not  large,  and  on  it  per- 
petually rests  a  pair  of  spectacles,  from  which  we  may  infer  that 
much  study  has  somewhat  impaired  his  visual  organs,  however 
much  it  may  have  sharpened  his  critical  perceptions.  Some  one 
has  said,  and  I  think  with  truth,  that  the  mouth  is  a  far  more  ex- 
pressive feature  than  the  eyes.  In  Dr.  Cumming's  case  such  is 
the  fact ;  the  upper  lip  is  thin,  but  well  shaped,  the  lower  one 
somewhat  fuller  than  its  fellow.  This  feature  is  very  expressive  ; 
at  times  a  half-smile  plays  upon  and  around  it,  but  it  generally 
has  a  tinge  of  melancholy  about  it,  and  in  repose  it  is  indicative 
of  deep  thought.  The  complexion  of  the  countenance  is  dark, 
and  large  black  whiskers  form  the  lateral  boundaries  of  the  face. 
Such  is  the  personal  appearance,  so  fixr  as  we  can  convey  an  idea 
of  it,  of  the  celebrated  pastor  of  the  Crown-court  Scotch  Church 


THE   EEV.    JOHN    GUMMING,    D.  D.  iO 

Opening  a  little  Bible  wliich  he  holds  with  Loth  hands,  Dr. 
Ciimming  commences  his  discourse  by  reading  from  it  his  text. 
Very  clear  and  musical  is  his  voice.  Although  by  no  means  loud, 
it  can  be  heard  \Yith  the  utmost  distinctness  in  the  most  distant 
part  of  the  church ;  and  consequently,  as  there  is  no  shuffling  and 
leaning  forward  to  catch  the  sounds,  the  most  perfect  stillness 
reigns.  Without  a  single  preliminary  "  hem,"  or  a  moment's 
pause  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  his  ideas,  he  at  once  com- 
mences the  elucidation  of  his  theme  ;  and  before  he  has  uttered 
half  a  dozen  sentences  it  is  evident  enough  that  all  his  matter  has 
been  carefully  arranged  beforehand.  There  is  not  the  slightest 
hesitation  ;  his  words  and  ideas  flow  forth  like  a  clear,  continuous 
stream,  and  they  are  as  transparent  too.  The  eloquence  of  some 
ministers  resembles  the  course  of  a  mountain  torrent ;  now  with 
difficulty  threading  narrow  ravines ;  now  expanding  in  a  calm, 
lake-like  expanse,  reflecting  the  loveliness  of  the  skies  ;  anon  rush- 
ing and  roaring  over  precipices  and  rocky  barriers  ;  and  then 
dancing  in  sunlight  through  verdurous  plains,  and  mossy-winding 
ways.  Such  orators  startle  by  similes,  attract  by  antitheses,  and 
charm  by  variety.  Not  such  is  the  character  of  Dr.  Cumming's 
oratory.  From  the  moment  he  commences  his  discourse,  until 
the  concluding  sentence  passes  his  lips,  the  current  of  his 
eloquence  flows  on  calmly  and  untroubled.  There  are  no  pas- 
sionate out-bursts,  no  succeeding  passages  of  pathos ;  little  to 
dazzle,  less  to  startle,  nothing  to  bewilder, — all  is  clear,  calm, 
and  convincmg.  With  his  little  Bible  in  his  hand,  or  more  fre- 
quently in  both  hands,  as  we  before  intimated,  he  generally  com- 
mences by  plunging  at  once  into  his  subject,  not  by  making  any 
lengthened  introductory  remarks.  His  voice,  which  but  slightly 
informs  us  of  his  northern  origin,  is  remarkably  pleasant,  and 
indeed  musical.     Seldom  does  it  rise  or  sink  above  or  below  tho 


16  A   PEN   AND   INK    SKETCH    OP 

key  in  wliicli  he  commences  hie  discourse  ;  yet,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected by  strangers,  the  effect  is  not  monotonous,  for  every  sen- 
tence is  admirably  balanced,  each  period  carefully  rounded,  and 
almost  every  tone  is  admirably  modulated.  When  hearing  Dr. 
Gumming,  one  is  reminded  of  the  description  of  "  Silver-tongued 
Smith,"  one  of  the  celebrated  preachers  of  Elizabeth's  time.  But, 
though  the  subject  of  our  sketch  is  truly  "  silver-tongued,"  the 
fiolemnity,  at  times  almost  the  severity,  of  his  manner,  preserves 
him  from  anything  like  tameness.  Perhaps  there  is  not  a  firmer 
or  more  fearless  preacher  than  the  doctor  ;  a  fact  w^hich  has  been 
proved  over  and  over  again  of  late,  as  his  Romish  antagonists 
have  found,  to  their  cost.  Dr.  Oumming's  manner  in  the  pulpit 
is  pleasing.  He  seldom  uses  any  other  action  than  a  gentle  Avav- 
ing  of  the  hand,  or  the  turning  from  one  part  of  his  congregation 
to  the  other.  He  is  no  cushion-thumper,  and  depends  for  effect 
more  upon  what  he  says  than  on  the  graces  of  action.  Not  that 
he  is  ungraceful  at  all  —  far  from  that ;  what  we  mean  is,  that 
he  is,  in  this  respect,  directly  the  opposite  of  those  pulpit-fops 
who  flourish  their  bordered  pieces  of  inspiration-lawn  in  the  pul- 
pit, and  throw  themselves  into  such  attitudes  as  compels  one  to 
believe  that  the  looking-glass  is  almost  as  essential  a  preparation 
for  the  pulpit  as  the  Bible  itself. 

Often  have  we  heard  Dr.  Gumming,  but  never  without  having 
noticed  that  he  referred  either  to  the  Apocalyptic  mysteries  or  to 
Papacy.  These  are  his  two  great  topics.'  His  " Sketches"  on 
the  former  subject  must  be  familiar  to  every  reader  of  scriptural 
literature,  and  therefore  it  Avill  be  needless  for  me  to  add  anything 
on  this  point,  further  than  that  by  many  able  persons  it  is  con- 
sidered Dr.  Gumming  is  mistaken  in  many  of  the  predictions 
which  he  utters  ;  and  that  his  great  abilities  are  wasted  on  mys- 
teries which,  after  all,  are  unfathomable  by  mortal  mind.     With 


THE    KEV.    JOHN    GUMMING,    D.D.  17 

respect  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  he  has  long  been  known 
as  one  of  its  most  vigorous,  consistent,  and  uncompromismg  foes. 
As  a  controversialist  he  is  truly  great.  No  man  can  dissect  Popery 
so  fearlessly,  so  mercilessly,  as  can  he.  There  is  not  a  web  of 
sophistry,  however  artfully  woven,  which  he  cannot  disentangle  ; 
and  his  profound  learning,  groat  sagacity,  and  extensive  acquaint- 
ance with  his  subject,  render  him  the  most  dangerous  enemy 
which  Cardinal  Wiseman  has  in  these  realms.  We  doubt  not 
that  his  newly-fledged  Eminence  would  rather  encounter  the 
whole  bench  of  bishops,  than  the  distinguished  and  bold  polemic 
of  Crown-court.  Indeed,  the  doctor  has  actually  bearded  the 
lion  of  Popery  in  his  den  ;  for  to  his  dingy  palace  in  Golden- 
square  he  repaired,  and  there  signally  discomfited  the  emissary 
from  the  Vatican  on  his  own  ground.  His  lectures,  delivered  a 
short  time  since  at  the  Hanover-square  Rooms,  on  "  The  Teaching 
of  Cardinal  Wiseman,"  were  masterpieces  of  argument ;  and 
they  were  listened  to  by  as  splendid  an  auditory  as  ever  assembled 
in  London,  —  men  who  are  arbiters  of  taste  and  masters  of  opin- 
ion, —  with  the  most  profound  satisfaction.  To  crown  his  pul- 
pit triumphs,  he  has  preached  before  the  queen,  at  Balmoral ; 
and  his  sermon  on  that  occasion,  entitled  "  Salvation,"  is  now 
circulated  by  scores  of  thousands  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  kingdom. 

Dr.  Cumming  is  a  very  voluminous  author,  but  we  cannot  in 
this  place  more  than  generally  allude  to  his  writings.  His  style  as 
a  writer  resembles  that  of  his  oral  productions.  The  sale  of  his 
works  is  prodigious,  and  is  productive  of  large  sums  ;  so  that, 
what  with  the  salary  derived  from  his  rich  congregation,  and  the 
profits  of  his  literary  productions,  his  income  must  be  large  ;  and 
he  deserves  it. 

We  have  thus  endeavored  to  convey  to  our  readers,  as  graphic- 
2=^ 


18  BEV.    JOHN    GUMMING,    D.  D. 

ally  as  may  be,  some  idea  of  Dr.  Camming,  both  as  regards  his 
personal  appearance,  his  manner,  and  his  matter.  At  the  pres- 
ent time  he  is  the  great  pnlpit  "  lion  of  London,"  just  as  Edward 
Irving  was  some  twenty  years  since.  But  very  different  is  the 
doctor  to  that  strange,  wonderfully  eloquent,  erratic  founder  of 
the  sect  who  believe  in  the  "  unknown  tongues."  There  could 
not  by  possibility  bo  a  greater  contrast.  The  one  all  fire,  enthu- 
siasm, and  semi-madness  ;  the  other,  a  man  of  chastened  energy 
and  convincing  calmness.  The  one  like  a  meteor  flashing  across 
a  troubled  sky,  and  then  vanishing  suddenly  into  the  darkness  ) 
the  other,  like  a  silver  star,  shining  serenely,  and  illuminating 
our  pathway  with  its  steady  ray.  But  why  pursue  the  parallel  ? 
The  brilliant  minister  of  the  Regent-square  Scotch  church  long 
since  "  passed  within  the  veil,"  doubtless  with  unsealed  eyes  ; 
and,  though  misled  on  earth,  we  doubt  not  that  with  the  elders 
he  now  waves  his  palm  and  wears  his  crown.  Long  may  it  be 
ere  it  shall  be  said  of  the  eloquent  subject  of  the  present  article, 
"  He  too  is  gone  !"  for  the  church  cannot  spare  him  yet.  Un- 
dazzled  by  popularity,  unaffected  by  the  breath  of  popular  ap- 
plause, he  steadily  pursues  the  duties  of  his  calling ;  feeling,  as 
we  too  feel,  that  a  great  work  is  before  him.  His  humility  is  as 
genuine  as  is  his  piety  ;  Scotland  may  well  be  proud  of  such  a 
son.  Hitherto  his  career  has  been  a  splendid  one,  but  suddenly 
a  new  field  for  his  exertions  has  appeared  ;  he  has  boldly  entered 
upon  it,  with  an  ardo^  which  may  bo  termed  the  chivalry  of  Prot- 
estantism ;  and  on  it,  perhaps,  his  greatest  triumphs  have  yet  to 
be  achieved. 


CHAPTER    I. 

GLAD   MUSIC. 

"  Salvation  !  0,  salvation  ! 
The  joyful  sound  proclaim, 
Till  earth's  remotest  nation 
Has  learned  Messiah's  name." 

"  Blessed  is  the  people  that  know  the  joyful  sound  :  they  shall  walk, 
0  Lord,  in  the  light  of  thy  countenance."  —  Psalji  89  :  15. 

David  had  oftentimes  listened  to  the  joyful  sound  of  the 
golden  bells  on  the  high  priest's  robe,  announcing  that  the 
wearer  was  alive,  and  that  his  intercession  was  heard  of 
God.  But,  though  he  had  heard  that  sound  very  often, 
he  well  knew  it  was  only  a  faint  prelude  to  that  glad  sound 
now  the  privilege  of  the  humblest,  which  saints  and  patriarchs 
longed  to  echo,  and  were  not  permitted.  Happy  are  the  peo- 
ple that  have  heard  the  bells  of  Aaron ;  happy  the  people 
that  have  heard  other  sounds  scarcely  less  sweet ;  but  em- 
phatically blessed,  "and  I  envy  their  blessedness,"  says 
David,  "  is  that  people  that  know  the  joyful  sound  first  struck 
on  Calvary.  Its  echoes  shall  fill  the  wide  world,  and  its 
reverberations  shall  not  cease  to  be  heard  in  deepening  tones 
while  the  years  of  eternity  continue  to  roll."  There  were, 
no  doubt,  many  sounds  that  David  must  have  known,  that 
were  not  joyful.  There  was  the  sound  of  war,  the  clarion 
and  the  trumpet,  and  the  noise  of  garments  rolled  in  blood, 
—  these  are  not  welcome,  though  often  unavoidable.  The 
voice  of  Sinai  was  another  sound,  but  not  a  glad  one.     The 


20  GLAD   MUSIC. 

music  of  Sinai  comes  to  us  in  crashes  and  in  overwhelming 
m^ajesty;  its  language  is,  "Thou  shalt,"  and  "Thou  shalt 
not ;"  but  so  intolerable  was  its  voice  that  Moses,  the  meekest 
man,  quaked,  and  Israel  begged  that  they  might  not  hear 
"  the  voice  of  words  "  any  more.  There  are  various  sounds 
in  nature,  all  plaintive  and  sad;  the  voice  of  winds,  the 
chime  of  waves,  and  the  song  of  birds,  are  all  in  the  minor 
key,  as  if  all  creation  groaned,  and  travailed  in  pain,  waiting 
for  deliverance,  that  grand  deliverance,  which  is  the  burden 
of  prophecy,  when  the  great  Composer  shall  transpose  all 
her  strains  from  the  minor  into  the  major,  and  the  wild  wail 
of  nature  shall  give  way  to  the  glad  harmony  of  the  ever- 
lasting jubilee,  the  joyous  strains  of  which  shall  reverberate 
from  heaven  to  earth,  and  the  wide  universe  be  as  a  whisper- 
ing gallery,  ever  repeating  its  sweet  music. 

Above  all  sounds,  and  running  like  a  sweet  undertone  in 
all,  there  is  one  called  "  The  joyful  sound."  There  is  many 
a  joyful  sound,  but  there  is  one  emphatically  so.  There  is 
the  chiefest  Saviour  for  the  chiefest  of  sinners.  How  joyful 
is  this  sound !  To  a  man  perishing  of  want,  the  sweetest 
word  is  "  bread."  What  is  the  most  joyful  accent  to  a  man 
on  the  brink  of  the  grave  ?  A  cure  for  his  disease.  What 
is  the  joyful  sound  to  a  man  living  under  bondage  to  death 
and  in  fear  of  eternal  ruin  ?  The  sound  that  rings  like  sweet 
music  from  the  skies,  and  awakens  its  echoes  in  the  heart  of 
every  one  that  truly  knows  it,  "  Jesus  died  for  our  sins  and 
rose  again  for  our  justilication,"  and  "  by  his  stripes  we  are 
healed."  It  commenced  in  Paradise ;  it  gladdened  Abra- 
ham's heart;  it  roiled  through  the  trumpet  of  Isaiah ;  it 
received  a  new  impulse,  and  rose  and  swelled  from  Calvary, 
and  Olivet,  and  Gethsemane ;  and  now  it  is  heard  from  the 
pine  forests  of  the  north  to  the  palm  groves  of  the  east:  there 
is  no  tongue  where  this  word  is  not  heard ;  there  is  no  land 
where  this  voice  is  unknown.     If  any  within  the  circuit  of 


GLAD   MUSIC.  21 

the  Queen's  dominions  live  in  ignorance  of  it,  it  is  not  want 
of  opportunity,  and  therefore  misfortune ;  but  want  of  will, 
and  therefore  a  crime. 

"Why  is  this  sound  called  the  joyful  sound  ?  Why  is  it 
emphatically  the  joyful  sound  ?  It  is  the  sound  of  truth  in 
the  midst  of  a  world  of  falsehoods  and  deceptions.  It  is 
the  reply  to  millions  of  anxious  spirits  —  the  only  reply  that 
meets  their  inquiries.  What  was  the  great  anxiety  and 
ceaseless  search  of  ancient  philosophy  ?  To  find  out  what  is 
truth.  So  hopeless  of  success,  however,  were  the  most  gifted 
philosophers  of  old,  that  one  school  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  was  no  such  thing  discoverable  on  earth  as  truth. 
Now,  here  we  have  the  sound,  not  only  of  truth,  but  of  the 
truth  amidst  a  world  of  falsehood  and  of  error.  It  is  not 
weak  men  that  are  often  perplexed  by  anxious  inquiries  what 
is  to  be  the  end  of  this  wondrous  drama  called  life,  this 
unsounded  mystery,  which  we  feel  and  cannot  comprehend, 
this  tangled  skein  we  cannot  unravel.  Is  the  grave  the  end 
of  me  ?  Is  death  the  close  of  my  existence  upon  earth  ? 
Do  I  cease  to  be  when  I  cease  to  breathe  ?  If  so,  the  God 
who  made  man  must  be  a  cruel  tyrant ;  and  man,  of  all  cre- 
ated beings,  is,  on  such  a  supposition,  the  most  wretched. 
The  horse  has  no  presentiment  of  death,  and  therefore  no 
reluctance  to  face  it;  he  has  no  yearning  after  immortality  : 
man,  on  the  contrary,  instinctively  recoils  from  death,  and 
pants  after  immortality.  God  has  made  him  with  the  con- 
scious knowledge  that  he  must  one  day  die,  and  with  the  no 
less  powerful  yearning  to  live  forever ;  and  yet,  if  there  be 
no  hereafter,  he  has  doomed  him  to  annihilation.  If  this  be 
so,  I  must  infer,  in  spite  of  all  around  me,  that  the  God  who 
made  me  is  a  tja-ant,  and  that  of  all  animals,  man  is  the 
most  wretched.  It  is  not  weak  minds  that  are  perplexed  with 
this  ;  it  is  not  poor  and  shallow  minds  that  are  anxious  upon 
this  subject.     The  ripest  intellects  have  felt  it  the  deepest, 


22  GLAD   MUSIC. 

and  the  profoundest  thinkers  have  been  perplexed  by  it ;  men 
have  spent  all  they  had,  and  searched  the  height  and  fath- 
omed the  depth  for  a  solution ;  and  the  depth  and  the  height, 
and  the  past  and  the  present,  have  either  been  dumb,  or  said 
each,  "  It  is  not  in  me."  How  blessed  to  hear  a  sound,  clear 
and  loud  as  a  trumpet's  peal,  the  joyful  sound  of  salvation,  a 
God,  a  future,  an  eternity,  a  home,  and  Christ,  the  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  life  !  Here,  too,  is  the  advantage  of  this.  It 
is  not  a  discovery.  It  is  a  revelation.  There  is  a  very 
great  difference  between  what  is  called  a  discovery  and  a 
revelation.  A  discovery  is  something  that  man  makes,  and 
that  man  can  mend ;  a  revelation  is  something  that  God 
gives,  and  that  God  alone  can  add  to.  Columbus  discovered 
America  ;  but  a  child  in  a  Sunday-school  knows  more  about 
America,  in  the  year  1853,  than  Columbus  knew  some  three 
centuries  ago,  when  he  first  discovered  it.  What  man  dis- 
covers, another  may  further  explore,  and  a  third  may  greatly 
enlarge ;  but  when  God  makes  a  revelation,  it  comes  from  a 
height  to  which  created  wing  cannot  soar,  and  it  deals  with 
things  that  the  human  mind  cannot  penetrate ;  and,  there- 
fore, we  must  and  ought  to  rejoice  to  accept  it,  just  as  it  is 
handed  down  to  us  from  heaven,  in  ail  its  completeness  ;  we 
cannot  add  to  it.  The  joyful  sound  is  not  a  discovery  which 
man  has  struck  out  as  the  result  of  investigation,  but  a  reve- 
lation which  God  has  made  known  in  his  sovereign  grace. 
We  now  receive  it  just  as  God  at  first  gave  it. 

It  is  the  sound  of  truth  in  a  world  of  falsehoods.  We 
have  no  longer  to  ask  now,  "What  is  truth?"  Pilate  once 
put  that  question,  but  did  not  wait  for  an  answer ;  many  per- 
sons ask  the  question,  in  their  case  a  plagiarism  from  Pontius 
Pilate,  rather  than  a  suggestion  of  their  own  minds,  and,  like 
him,  wait  not  for  a  reply  ;  but  many  ask  it  solemnly,  seriously, 
and  from  the  heart,  and  to  these  we  answer,  "  We  know  what 
truth  is."     Christ  is  the  truth,  the  Bible  is  the  depository  of 


GLAD   MUSIC.  23 

it,  the  minister  is  the  preacher  of  it ;  present  happiness  is 
the  blossom  and  eternal  joy  the  fruitage  of  it.  We  can  say 
what  truth  is ;  we  need  not  speculate,  because  God  has 
spoken ;  we  need  not  guess,  for  we  hear,  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,"  —  the  answer  to  all  queries,  the  close  of  all  disputes, 
the  settlement  of  all  difficulties. 

It  is  joyful  not  only  because  the  sound  of  truth,  but  also 
because  that  of  forgiveness.  "When  man  has  heard  truth  he 
wants  to  know  how  far  that  truth  can  benefit  him.  The  very 
first  feeling  that  stirs  the  conscience  is  that  I  am  a  sinner. 
There  is  not  an  individual  on  earth  who  does  not  feel  more 
or  less  deeply  that  there  is  a  quarrel  between  him  and  God. 
If  not,  why  so  frequent  retreat  from  God  ?  Why  that 
shrinking  from  God's  inspection  ?  Why  that  half-suppressed, 
half-uttered,  ill-defined,  but  still  cherished  wish,  rather  than 
feeling  or  conviction,  "  No  God,"  —  "I  wish  there  were  no 
intruder  from  heaven  upon  my  transactions  upon  eiS.-th"? 
Why  are  there  so  many  ledgers  that  they  could  bear  any" 
person  to  see  except  God  ?  Why  so  many  things  in  their 
history  that  they  would  sufier  any  one  to  scrutinize  rather 
than  God  ?  Why  does  the  week  run  swifter  when  they  get 
rid  of  the  idea  of  a  present  God  ?  why  would  the  day  be 
overcast  with  clouds,  if  they  had  a  consciousness  that  God 
was  looking  on  ?  The  reason  is  plain ;  there  is  a  quarrel 
between  them  and  God.  Our  own  hearts  condemn  us,  and 
God  is  greater  than  our  own  hearts.  Man's  conscience  was 
once  the  vicegerent  of  Deity :  what  conscience  spoke  within 
was  just  the  echo  of  what  God  said  without ;  and,  even  now, 
conscience  in  its  ruin  has  enough  of  its  pristine  eloquence 
and  surviving  affinity  to  God  never  to  be  altogether  and 
always  silent.  The  passions  try  to  make  conscience  a  sort 
of  citizen-king,  putting  it  up  and  down  as  they  please ;  but 
it  will  not  quietly  submit ;  it  resists  the  authority  of  the  pas- 
sions ;  it  insists  upon  supremacy ;  it  cannot  forget  its  noblo 


24  GL^iD    MUSIC. 

YmQ^.rjz  and  its  erst  holy  function  derived  from  God,  As  long 
as  man  can  gratify  his  passions,  and  give  an  opiate  to  eon- 
science,  so  long  it  will  be  partially  quiet.  But  a  day  comes 
when  the  passions  must  be  laid,  and  when  every  beat  of  the 
heart,  like  the  curfew-bell,  will  tell  you  that  the  time  for 
extinguishing  their  fires  is  come ;  and  then  and  there  con- 
science will  reassert  its  lost  supremacy,  grasp  its  broken 
sceptre,  and,  refusing  to  be  put  down,  it  will  emit  its  true  and 
eternal  utterances ;  and  reason  of  righteousness,  and  temper- 
ance and  judgment ;  and  prove  that  man  may  per  adventure 
live  without  religion,  but  die  without  it  he  rarely  can.  A 
death-bed  is  that  hour  when  conscience  reasserts  its  suprem- 
acy, however  stupefied  it  may  have  been  with  the  opium  of 
half  a  century,  and  reminds  its  possessor  of  all  behind  and 
before.  In  such  a  case  there  are  two  resources,  —  either  the 
Romish  priest,  with  a  stronger  opiate,  under  which  man  will 
die  deluded  and  deceived ;  or  the  blood  of  Jesus,  with  pardon 
for  the  sin,  and  therefore  peace  for  the  conscience,  which  is 
the  joyful  sound  of  forgiveness. 

Another  reason  why  this  is  called  the  joyful  sound  is  its 
announcement  of  freedom,  —  that  blessing  which  man  longs 
for  and  pants  after ;  yet  not  the  liberty,  or  rather  license, 
that  some  democrats  would  have,  but  true  liberty.  A  Chris- 
tian can  never  be  a  slave ;  you  may  bind  his  outward  limbs  in 
fetters,  but  you  cannot  bind  his  soul.  My  limbs  do  not  con- 
stitute me ;  the  presence  of  them  is  not  essential  to  me,  the 
absence  of  them  is  not  the  extinction  of  me.  That  which 
constitutes  me  is  that  which  thinks,  hopes,  rejoices.  There  is 
one  thing  only  that  can  chain  the  soul,  namely,  sin ;  and  there 
is  only  one  electric  touch  that  can  dissolve  that  chain, —  the 
finger  of  Jesus.  This  sound  is  emphatically  joyful .;  because, 
like  the  trumpet  of  Jubilee,  it  proclaims  freedom  to  the  slave, 
the  opening  of  the  prison  doors  to  them  that  are  bound,  sal- 


GLAD    MUSIC.  25 

vation  and  acceptance  for  the  guiltiest  through  him  who  died 
for  as  and  rose  again. 

It  is  joyful,  because  it  is  the  sound  of  peace.  "  There  is 
no  peace,  saith  my  God,  to  the  wicked."  It  is  utterly  impos- 
sible that  one  whose  conscience  retains  any  sensibility  at  all 
can  enjoy  anything  like  true  peace  till  he  is  forgiven.  I  know 
quite  well  men  may  get  rid  of  the  inward  disquiet  by  turning 
their  attention  to  something  outside ;  but  this  is  not  peace. 
The  reason  why  we  see  so  many  men  intensely  absorbed  in 
business  is  not  that  they  are  anxious  to  make  more  money,  but 
that  they  are  earnestly  desirous  of  finding  so  entire  and  intense 
an  absorption  of  their  thoughts,  that  they  shall  have  no 
anticipatory  feelings,  and  therefore  no  tormenting  fears,  about 
death,  and  judgment  and  eternity  to  come.  Such  peace,  how- 
ever, as  can  be  produced  by  such  means,  is  "  peace,  peace, 
when  there  is  no  peace  at  all ;"  it  is  quiet,  not  peace.  But 
this  joyful  sound  is  the  sound  of  true  peace ;  a  peace  that 
will  go  down  into  the  depths  of  conscience,  that  will  rise  to 
the  heights  of  judgment  to  come,  and  that  will  enable  you, 
wherever  and  at  whatever  angle  and  in  whatever  light  you 
look  at  self,  at  God,  at  judgment  and  eternity,  to  feel  the 
oeace  that  passeth  understanding,  with  which  a  stranger  inter- 
neddleth  not,  and  which  no  foe  nor  friend  can  possibly  take 
tway.  Do  we  hear  ringing  in  our  hearts  this  sound  of  peace  ? 
!)an  we  realize  the  thought  that  God  is  present,  and  yet  feel 
perfect  repose  ?  Can  we  recollect  that  we  are  standing  on  the 
brink  of  the  grave,  and  soon  to  enter  the  porch  and  vestibule 
of  eternity,  and  yet  feel  peace  ?  Let  us  realize  a  dying 
moment.  There  is  not  a  face,  however  beautiful,  that  looks 
upon  this  page,  that,  in  a  very  few  years,  shall  not  be  mould- 
ering beneath  the  green  sod,  "  corruption  its  mother,  and  the 
"worm  its  sister."  Is  that  the  end  of  us  ?  We  know  it  is  not. 
We  believe  the  word  of  God ;  we  are  immortal,  yet  respons- 
ible. What  is  our  expectation  in  reference  to  another  world  ? 
3 


26  GLAD   MUSIC. 

Po  we  imitate  the  ostrich,  tha,t  hides  its  head  in  the  sand,  and 
thinks,  because  it  ceases  to  see  the  pursuer,  the  pursuer  has 
ceased  to  follow  ?  Are  we  crying,  in  spite  of  the  reclamations 
of  conscience,  "  Peace,  peace,  when  there  is  no  peace  at  all "  ? 
Or,  can  we  say,  in  the  language  of  the  dying  saint,  the  mar- 
tyr and  apostle,  "  I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed,  and  that 
he  is  able  to  keep  what  I  have  committed  to  him  against  that 
day.  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteous- 
ness, which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give  me  at 
that  day ;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that 
love  his  appearing  "  ?  If  so,  blessed  are  we.  We  know  the 
joyful  sound ;  ours  is  the  blessed  life. 

It  is  the  sound  of  a  home  hereafter,  falling  on  the  ear.  A 
home  upon  earth  is  but  shadow,  not  substance ;  the  brightest 
and  the  sweetest  will  soon  be  overcast  with  thick  and  impen- 
etrable clouds.  There  is  no  home  in  which  there  is  not  one 
nook  painfully  empty  that  used  to  be  gladdened  by  a  dear 
presence ;  in  which  there  is  not  one  chair  vacant  that  used  to 
be  beautifully  occupied;  in  which  there  is  not  any  more 
heard  a  footfall  that  used  to  be  music  to  the  ear,  expectation 
and  joy  to  the  heart.  There  is  no  home  in  which  death  has 
not  entered,  and  borne  ofif  spring  flowers,  that  made  him  seem 
more  beautiful  to  the  parent  because  of  the  young  blossoms  he 
carried  in  his  bosom  to  a  better  and  a  balmier  clime.  There  is 
no  memory  that  is  not  in  some  degree  a  picture-gallery  of  tho 
dead,  where  are  treasured  up  images  that  we  do  not  worship, 
but  cannot  let  go. 

We  well  know,  too,  that  even  the  brightest  moments  ex 
perienced  in  our  home  suggest  the  darkest.  Often,  when  I 
have  listened  to  that  sweetest  music  by  the  fireside,  the  glad 
voices  of  happy  children,  I  have  felt  in  my  own  mind  the 
solemn  and  painful  presentiment  of  a  day  when  these  bright 
faces  shall  be  pale,  and  these  restless  heads  «hall  be  fevered 
on  the  pillow,  and  these  sweet  sounds  shall  be  hushed,  and 


GLAD   MUSIC.  27 

that  home,  whose  roof-tree  now  rings  with  their  accents,  shall 
be  lonely,  desolate,  and  sad.  But  we  have  recovered  our- 
selves, and  recollected,  when  this  home  shall  pass  away  like 
the  fabric  of  a  vision,  there  is  another  beyond  the  stars, 
the  meeting-place  of  long-lost  and  much-loved  ones,  where 
friend  shall  meet  friend,  and  the  mother  shall  embrace  the 
child  she  lost  in  infancy,  and  the  father  the  son,  and  the  son 
the  father ;  and  circles  that  had  been  broken  on  earth  shall 
be  completed  in  glory  ;  and  ties  snapped  in  sunder  here  shall 
be  reunited,  and  all  things  shall  be  made  new.  This  is  the 
joyful  sound  of  a  home  whose  parent  and  presence  is  God ; 
whose  atmosphere  is  joy,  whose  companionship  is  the  once  lost, 
but  now  restored  and  ever  loved,  and  never  again  lost. 

Such  is  the  joyful  sound.  "  Blessed  are  the  people  that 
know  the  joyful  sound."  These  are  the  sounds  that  lighten 
toil  of  its  pressure,  that  sweeten  human  trials,  and  lessen 
life's  long  afflictions.  Hush  this  sound,  and  the  world  would 
lose  its  richest  music ;  silence  these  truths,  and  earth  would  be 
disenchanted  of  its  greatest  attraction.  This  sound  heard  in 
the  humblest  dwelling,  in  life's  deepest  sorrow,  in  the  midst 
of  the  greatest  trials,  creates  a  peace,  a  happiness  and  a  joy, 
that  made  the  Psalmist  say,  what  thousands  in  succession 
have  experimentally  reiterated,  "  Blessed  is  the  people  that 
know  the  joyful  sound." 

This  leads  us  to  notice  what  is  a  most  important  truth,  that 
j  oj  is  an  essential  element  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  It  is  the 
first  effect  of  the  Gospel  to  make  man  happy ;  it  is  the  second, 
but  ever  accompanying,  to  make  man  holy.  The  entertain- 
ment we  give  to  good  news  creates  happiness.  Do  I  hear  that 
some  one  has  left  me  a  fortune,  —  my  first  feeling  is  gladness, 
my  second  is  gratitude  to  him  who  bequeathed  it.  When  we 
hear  good  news  of  any  sort,  we  respond  in  gladness  or  joy. 
Now,  the  Gospel  is  good  news,  and  the  very  first  response  that 
man  makes  to  it,  when  he  heartily  receives  it,  is  joy ;  and  that 


28  GLAD   MUSIC. 

joy  becomes  his  strength,  his  holiness,  and  the  spring  of  his 
progress  onward  from  grace  to  grace,  and  from  strength  to 
strength,  till  at  last  he  appears  before  God  in  Zion.  The  ser* 
mon  that  does  not  contribute  to  make  happier  now,  or  more 
remotely,  has  failed  of  one  chief  object  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  There  is  no  one  doctrine  of  Christianity  that  does 
not  tend  to  make  its  subjects  ha})pier  on  earth.  Take  away 
from  evangelical  and  spiritual  religion  any  one  essential  doc- 
trine, and  you  will  find  that  you  have  taken  away  a  spring  of 
happiness.  Deny  the  deity  of  Christ,  and  I  can  have  little  satis- 
faction in  knowing  or  believing  that  Christ  is  mere  man.  He 
is  thus  to  me  but  a  more  perfect  example  of  that  of  which 
Sinai  was  already  a  perfect  exponent ;  and  to  show  me  a 
holier,  a  purer,  and  a  clearer  law,  is  only  to  plunge  me  into  a 
deeper  condemnation,  by  showing  more  clearly  my  inability  to 
fulfil  it.  In  the  same  manner  instruct  me  that  I  am  to  be  jus- 
tified by  what  I  do  myself,  and  I  am  so  conscious  of  the 
weakness  of  my  greatest  strength,  of  the  faults  and  failures 
of  my  holiest  efibrts,  that  to  tell  me  that  I  can  be  justified 
only  by  what  I  can  do  is  to  drive  me  to  despair,  and  to 
exhaust  my  heart  of  every  element  of  joy,  because  of  every 
ground  of  hope,  within  it.  Or  tell,  me,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
I  am  elected  to  everlasting  life,  and  therefore  sin  is  no  sin  to 
me,  —  that  I  can  commit  sin,  and  yet  be  safe,  —  I  shall  have 
no  joy  in  that.  I  want  not  only  to  be  rid  of  the  punishment 
of  sin,  but  of  the  pollution  of  sin.  A  true  Christian  is  not 
satisfied  with  escaping  hell ;  he  desires  as  much  to  escape  that 
which  leads  to  hell,  —  the  power,  the  taint,  and  the  presence 
of  sin ;  and  therefore  to  teach  me  that  I  can  be  delivered 
from  the  penal  results  of  sin,  but  that  there  is  no  prospect  of 
my  emancipation  from  the  present  pollution  of  sin,  is  to  give 
me  what  can  never  make  me  happy ;  for  sin  is  as  hateful  to 
my  renewed  heart  as  punishment  and  penalty  can  be  to  human 
nature.     And  so,  on  the  other  hand,  to  tell  me  that  I  am  to 


GLAD   MUSIC.  29 

lean  for  acceptance  partly  on  Christ,  and  partly  on  the  church, 
—  partly  on  the  righteousness  of  Jesus,  and  partly  on  the 
sacraments,  —  robs  me  in  the  degree  in  which  I  believe  of  my 
happiness,  because  it  would  be  to  have  one  foot  consciously 
upon  the  rock,  and  the  other  upon  the  boat  rocked  in  the 
surge,  or  upon  the  sinking  sand ;  and,  knowing  this,  I  cannot 
have  rest.  In  other  words,  we  shall  find  that  the  more  clear 
and  full  the  exhibition  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  the  greater  and  the  richer  will  be  the  joy  that  men 
will  derive  in  consequence.  To  sum  up  all  in  a  single  sen- 
tence, any  interference  with  the  purity  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  Gospel  is  an  interference  not  only  with  the  absolute 
safety,  but  with  the  enjoyment,  of  the  people  of  God. 

David  says,  "  Blessed  are  the  people  that  know  the  joyful 
sound."  This  is  a  remarkable  expression  ;  to  know  a  sound 
is  a  strange,  and  yet  a  very  scriptural  phrase.  "  The  sheep 
knmo  his  voice,  and  a  stranger  they  will  not  follow."  We  all 
recollect  that  beautiful  incident  in  the  Scripture  where  Jesus, 
after  he  rose  from  the  dead,  appeared  to  Mary,  who,  not  ex- 
pecting so  holy,  beautiful  and  desired  a  presence,  did  not 
recognize  him  at  the  first  blush  ;  but  when  he  opened  his  lips, 
and  said,  in  his  own  sweet  tones,  "  Mary  !  "  that  instant  her 
ear  corrected  the  misapprehension  of  the  eye,  she  knew  the 
joyful  sound,  and  she  recognized  Jesus  the  Son  of  God.  So 
Rhoda,  when  Peter  came  and  stood  at  the  door,  not  recog- 
nizing his  presence  by  sight,  instantly  knew  him  by  his  voice, 
and  stated  to  those  that  were  within  that  Peter  was  there. 
When  Jesus  walked  upon  the  waves,  and  came  to  the  disci- 
ples toiling  in  the  storm  at  the  third  watch,  they  saw  him,  but 
thought  he  was  a  spirit ;  as  soon,  however,  as  he  spoke,  and 
said,  "  Fear  not :  it  is  I,"  they  recognized  his  presence,  and 
were  sure  it  was  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  know  many  who 
cannot  easily  recollect  faces,  but  flie  instant  they  hear  the 
voice  they  distinguish  the  individual,  and  his  history,  too 


30  GLAD   MUSIC. 

Many  correct  by  the  ear  the  misapprehension  into  which 
they  fall  by  the  eye.  The  soldier  knows  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet,  and  its  significance,  too ;  the  sailor  knows  by  the 
first  whistling  of  the  wind  whether  it  indicates  the  tornado 
or  the  coming  zephyr.  The  Mahometan  knows  the  cry 
of  the  muezzin  upon  the  minaret  from  afar.  "  Blessed  are 
the  people  "  that  know  amid  all  sounds,  and  can  distinguish 
amid  all  voices,  that  which  rings  sweetest  and  loudest,  and 
will  ring  last  —  the  joyful  sound  of  holiness,  purity  and  peace ; 
a  Saviour  for  the  chiefest  and  the  oldest  of  sinners,  and  an 
everlasting  home  for  the  weary  and  way-worn.  Blessed  are 
the  people  that  know  it.  There  are  persons  who  hear  the 
sound,  and  yet  do  not  know  it.  I  dare  say  others  might  have 
heard  Jesus  speak  to  Mary,  yet  did  not  recognize  it  as  the 
voice  of  Jesus.  One  might  hear  a  person  speak  the  most 
eloquent  things,  and  yet  hear  only  what  would  prove  a  very 
sweet  strain  of  music,  but  not  what  would  be  of  any  practical 
value.  Many  hear  sermons,  but  they  do  not  know  sermons. 
At  the  electric  telegraph  in  action  we  may  see  two  persons 
conveying  from  London  to  Edinburgh  meaning  of  the  great- 
est moment,  while  another  person,  standing  by,  sees  the  pro- 
cess, or  manipulation,  but  does  not  know  one  syllable  of  the 
message.  Not  a  few  come  to  church,  and  are  pleased  with  the 
preacher's  sermons,  and  they  say,  "  He  has  the  voice  of  one 
playing  well  upon  an  instrument ;  "  but  no  good  do  they  de- 
rive. We  are  told  by  our  blessed  Lord,  "  The  sheep  know 
his  voice,  and  a  stranger  they  will  not  follow."  I  am  one  of 
those  who  believe  that  the  Christian  laity  are  perfectly  capa- 
ble of  saying  whether  that  sermon  preached  by  this  or  that 
minister  is  the  Gospel  or  not.  A  man  who  is  truly  converted 
knows  what  the  Gospel  is ;  and  a  stranger's  voice,  preaching 
another  Gospel,  he  will  not  follow.  There  is  not  the  least 
danger  that  a  truly  converted  man  will  ever  become  a  Papist; 
it  is  impossible.     Men  that  profess  loudly  may  become  Ho 


GLAD   MUSIC.  31 

manists,  but  they  -whose  hearts  have  been  changed,  whose 
minds  have  been  illuminated  with  heavenly  light,  who  have 
been  taught  to  hear  and  to  know  the  joyful  sound,  the  music 
of  a  Saviour's  voice,  and  the  meaning  and  mystery  of  a  Sav- 
iour's sacrifice,  will  not  long  listen  to  preaching  that  is  not  the 
echo  of  that  voice,  or  recognize  as  a  true  shepherd  him  who 
preaches  another  gospel,  which  is  not  another,  but  a  corrup- 
tion and  a  perversion  altogether.  The  apostle  tells  us  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  very  decidedly,  that  if  we  hear  an 
angel  from  heaven  preach  any  other  gospel  to  us,  "  let  him 
be  Anathema."  I  believe  that  the  duty  of  the  day  is  not  to 
go  to  any  church  where  the  Gospel  is  not  preached  by  one 
who  knows  it,  and  in  his  heart  loves  it.  "  If  2/;e,"  says  the 
apostle,  —  Paul  the  apostle,  —  "  or  an  angel  coming  down 
radiant  with  the  glory  of  heaven,  should  preach  to  you,  in 
angel  eloquence  and  with  angel  strains,  something  different 
from  that  Gospel  which  ye  have  received  in  this  book,  let 
him  be  Anathema."  That  is,  do  not  burn  him,  dx)  not  calum- 
niate him,  do  not  kill  him,  but  have  nothing  to  do  with  him. 
So  I  love  the  church  I  belong  to ;  but  if  in  that  parish 
church,  far  distant,  around  whose  walls  the  dust  of  my  fathers 
sleeps  in  the  hope  of  a  blessed  resurrection,  the  very  stones 
of  which  are  dear  to  me,  and  the  chime  of  whose  bells  stili 
recalls  the  thoughts,  the  sympathies  and  the  recollections,  ol 
boyhood,  —  if  in  that  church,  so  beloved,  there  were  to  be 
placed  one  who  should  preach  another  gospel  than  this  blessed 
Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God ;  and  if,  on  the  other  side  ol 
the  road,  there  were  the  humblest  of  preachers,  proclaiming 
in  its  fulness  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ, — with  a  broken 
heart  and  a  staggering  step,  but  stern  to  my  purpose,  I  and 
mine  would  turn  our  backs  upon  the  parish  church,  and  wor 
ship  in  the  dissenting  chapel.  I  love  the  church  not  less,  but 
the  Gospel  more.  The  candlestick  is  of  no  avail,  unless  it 
have  light  upon  it.     It  may  be  chased,  and  of  pure  gold,  but 


6Z  GLAD   MUSIC. 

if  there  is  no  candle  in  it,  where  is  the  use  of  it  ?  The  cup 
may  be  of  very  beautiful  silver,  but  if  there  is  poison  in  it,  I 
cannot  drink  it.  Give  me  pure  water  from  earth's  fountain 
in  the  earthenware  cup,  rather.  I  have  no  alternative.  The 
truth  in  all  its  purity,  the  Gospel  in  all  its  simplicity,  I  must 
have  ;  and,  if  I  cannot  have  it  in  the  formula  I  prefer,  I  will 
have  it  in  the  formula  in  which  I  can  obtain  it.  Blessed, 
then,  are  the  people  that  know  this  joyful  sound,  and  so  know 
it  that  they  will  give  up  any  preference  upon  earth  rather  than 
miss  it,  and  make  every  sacrifice  of  every  prejudice  rather 
than  let  it  go,  and  will  have  recourse  to  the  forms  they  least 
love,  because  the  Gospel  is  there,  while  they  reject  error  in 
the  form  that  they  prefer  and  love,  when  it  is  desecrated  to 
the  service  of  evil. 

Such  is  the  joyful  sound,  such  the  happiness  of  the  people 
who  know  it;  such  is  a  leaf  of  the  .tree  of  the  blessed  life. 
We  have  next  the  fruits  of  it  declared  by  David.  To  these 
I  can  very  briefly  allude :  "  They  shall  walk  in  the  light  of 
thy  countenance.  They  walk  because  they  have  life;  they 
walk  because  that  life  is  progressive ;  and  they  walk,  not  in 
the  light  of  sparks  of  their  own  kindling,  but  in  the  light  of 
the  countenance  of  God,  which  is  sunshine  and  joy.  The 
countenance  is  the  dial-plate  of  the  inner  man.  Hypocrisy 
may  cloud  it,  management  may  alter  it,  but  still  in  the  long 
run  the  living  inhabitant  within  discovers  himself  in  the  fugi- 
tive lights  and  shadows  that  sweep  successively  over  the 
countenance  without.  When  the  soul  within  is  happy,  the 
countenance,  being  its  index,  has  a  beautiful  play  of  light 
upon  it.  It  is  easy  to  know  a  happy  man  by  the  light  that 
shines  from  his  countenance,  just  as  it  is  easy  to  know  a  sad 
man  by  the  lines  upon  his  face,  the  falling  of  his  brow,  and 
the  shadows  that  seem  to  gather  and  cluster  over  it.  Now, 
those  people  who  know  this  joyful  sound  walk  in  the  light 
of  the  countenance  of  God,  —  God  their  Father,  —  on  which 


GLAD   MUSIC.  3? 

mercy,  and  truth,  and  righteousness,  and  peace,  have  met  to- 
gether ;  and,  just  as  children  love  to  be  with  their  ftither,  so 
these  walk  in  the  light  of  God's  countenance  shining  upon 
them,  and  they  walk  everywhere  in  this  light.  Sometimes 
they  are  called  to  walk  through  trials,  afflictions,  tribulation 
and  distress ;  but  the  light  of  God's  countenance  shining  upon 
them  makes  earth's  dark  places  bright,  and  earth's  rugged 
places  smooth,  and  the  cup  that  is  filled  with  the  bitterest  in- 
gredients to  taste  comparatively  sweet.  Sometimes  they  are 
called  upon  to  walk  by  sick  beds,  and  by  the  early  graves  of 
the  beloved  dead ;  but  the  light  of  God's  countenance  shining 
upon  the  grave  turns  the  cypress  into  the  palm,  and,  falling 
upon  the  face  of  the  dead,  reflects  upon  that  pale,  dear  coun- 
tenance the  fore-thrown  glories  of  the  resurrection  morn; 
and  in  their  sorrows  they  feel  a  blessedness  that  the  world 
knows  not,  who  look  upon  all  things  in  the  light  of  a  Father's 
face,  and  see  all  trials  shining  in  the  lustre  of  the  skies  all 
the  day  long.  What  dignity  is  here,  —  Christians  walking 
before  God  !  What  safety  is  here,  —  walking  in  the  light  of 
a  Father's  countenance,  never  lost  sight  of  by  him,  and  he 
never  lost  sight  of  by  them,  —  walking,  not  as  slaves  with  a 
task-master,  but  as  sons  in  the  presence  of  a  loving  and  affec- 
tionate father !  Many  associate  with  the  acceptance  of 
Christianity  everything  that  is  sorrowful.  I  have  met  with 
many,  not  certainly  very  decided  Christians,  who  seem  to  have 
this  notion  of  the  Gospel.  They  think,  "  Christianity  is  very 
beautiful,  nay,  admirable  for  a  sick  bed,  a  capital  thing  for  a 
grave-side ;  but  in  our  bright  and  merry  moments  we  would 
rather  be  without  it."  And,  hence,  when  a  great  loss  over- 
takes such  a  person,  he  sends  to  the  minister,  to  request  the 
prayers  of  the  Christian  congregation ;  but,  if  he  be  made  an 
heir  of  a  large  fortune,  he  does  not  send  to  ask  that  the 
prayers  of  the  congregation  may  be  offered  for  one  who  has 
been  suddenly  blessed,  or  request  that  the  praises  and  thanks 


84  GLAD  MUSIC. 

of  the  congregation  may  be  mingled  with  his  to  the  Giver. 
And  so,  if  one  is  ill,  he  sends  for  a  minister  to  pray  with  him, 
but  if  he  is  well  and  prosperous  in  the  world  he  would  rather 
go  to  the  play-house  to  enjoy  himself.  Yet  it  is  far  more 
difficult  to  hold  steadily  a  full  cup  than  a  half-filled  one.  The 
high  places  of  the  world  are  more  slippery  than  the  low 
places;  and,  if  we  need  prayer  when  we  suffer,  we  need 
prayer  still  more  when  we  are  prospered.  But  the  unhappy 
thing  is,  that  men  think  of  religion  as  only  for  life's  sad 
hours,  —  they  do  not  regard  it  as  a  prescription  for  man's 
bright  hours.  This  religion,  nevertheless,  is  a  happy  religion, 
and  it  is  meant  for  all  the  phases  and  for  all  the  varieties  of 
human  experience.  It  will  make  life's  sunshine  more  bril- 
liant and  beautiful  than  before ;  it  will  cast  its  radiance  upon 
affliction's  dark  cloud,  till  you  can  trace  upon  it  the  glories  of 
heaven  itself.  "  Is  any  man  afflicted,  let  him  pray  ;  is  any 
man  merry,  let  him  sing  psalms."  Thus  our  tears  and  our 
sorrows,  our  trials  and  our  joys,  all  bring  us  to  God,  in  prayer 
or  in  praise,  and  all  the  day  long  we  shall  walk  in  the  light 
of  his  countenance. 

Not  only  shall  they  walk  in  the  light  of  God's  countenance, 
but  they  shall  rejoice  in  his  name  all  the  day  long;  they 
shall  be  exalted  in  his  righteousness,  they  shall  glory  in  his 
strength.  What  bright  prospects  are  these  !  and  yet  these  are 
ours.  God  means  that  his  people  should  be  happy.  Would 
it  not  be  a  strange  thing  if  God  were  to  make  his  enemies 
happy,  but  keep  his  own  people  always  miserable  ?  If  there 
be  a  bounding  heart  anywhere,  it  is  a  response  to  the  touch 
of  the  finger  of  Jesus ;  if  there  be  a  sad  heart,  or  a  broken 
heart,  it  is  not  because  of  the  presence,  but  the  absence,  of 
Christianity.  No  man  who  knows  the  blessed  Gospel  need 
have  an  unhappy  hour ;  no  man  who  is  a  stranger  to  it 
ought  to  have  a  pleasant  or  a  merry  one.  Heligion  is  not  a 
thing  that  speaks  in  sepulchral  tones,  amid  trials  and  in  bor- 


GLAD    MUSIC.  85 

rowfiil  accents  only,  but  in  sunshine.  It  makes  truly  happy ; 
it  pronounces  benedictions;  its  grand  feature  is,  "  Blessed  are 
the  people  that  know  the  joyful  sound;  they  shall  rejoice  in 
God  all  the  day  long." 

If  this  Gospel  that  we  ourselves  have  been  made  acquainted 
with  is  thus  fitted  to  make  happy  all  that  come  under  its 
influence,  we  shall  ever  be  ready  to  transmit  the  glad  sound 
from  the  river  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  not  to  cease  till 
the  whole  world  is  blessed  in  Jesus,  and  all  generations  shall 
call  him  blessed.  It  is  the  law  of  our  experience  that  the 
man  who  has  heard  good  news  never  can  keep  it  to  himself; 
few  who  have  gathered  good  information  can  make  a  monop- 
oly of  it ;  and  still  less  will  he  who  has  personally  felt  the 
Gospel  in  its  sweetness,  and  its  joy,  and  its  power,  fail  to  wish 
that  every  person  may  know  it  as  well  as  he.  If  I  have  dis- 
covered a  cure  for  an  almost  universal  disease,  the  first  thing 
I  do  is  to  publish  it  far  and  wide ;  I  cannot  rest  until  I  have 
done  it.  We  in  this  land  have  discovered  a  balm  for  the 
troubled  soul,  a  home  for  the  orphan,  a  husband  for  the  widow, 
and  a  friend  for  the  friendless ;  and  if  this  revelation  be  pre- 
cious to  us,  it  will  be  the  very  first  and  most  powerful  impulse 
of  our  renovated  nature  to  send  it  forth  until  the  whole  earth 
reverberates  and  reflects  its  glad  music,  and  all  men  become 
as  happy  under  its  influence  as  we  are.  If  the  Gospel  could 
be  preached  without  our  instrumentality,  it  would  be  useless 
to  ask  it ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  winds  chant  the 
joyful  sound,  that  the  sunbeams  write  it  on  the  sky,  that  the 
lightning  flashes  it  upon  the  minds  of  men,  or  that  the  waves 
of  the  ocean,  in  their  multitudinous  chimes,  announce  that 
Jesus  died  for  our  sins.  And  if  there  is  no  one  instrument- 
ality besides  ourselves,  let  us  use  it  as  we  have  opportunity. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   FAVORED   PEOPLE. 

"  How  liappy  are  our  ears, 
That  hear  the  joyful  sound, 
Which  kings  and  prophets  waited  for. 
And  sought,  but  never  found  ! 

*'  How  favored  are  our  eyes. 
That  see  this  heavenly  light  ! 
Prophets  and  kings  desired  it  long. 
But  died  without  the  sight." 

«  But  blessed  are  your  eyes,  for  they  see  ;  and  your  ears,  for  they 
hear.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  That  many  prophets  and  righteous 
men  have  desired  to  see  those  things  which  ye  see,  and  have  not  seen 
them  ;  and  to  hear  those  things  which  ye  hear,  and  have  not  heard 
them."— Matthew  13  :  16,  17. 

Our  responsibility  rises  exactly  in  tlie  ratio  of  tlie  privi- 
leges which  we  enjoy.  "  The  more  we  have,  the  more  we  have 
to  answer  for,"  is  a  proverb  that  everybody  gives  utterance  to, 
that  the  few  and  the  far  betwecen  only  feel  or  follow  as  they 
ought.  We  are  very  apt  to  dream  that  privilege  possessed  by 
us  commends  us  to  God,  and  that  it  is  in  some  respect  to  be 
regarded  in  the  light  of  merit  in  his  sight.  It  really  is  not 
so.  Privilege  is  something  God  grants  to  us.  It  only  com- 
mends him  to  us  for  his  goodness ;  and  it  does  not  add  to  our 
merit  in  his  sight,  or  in  any  degree  commend  us  to  him, 
because  of  our  possession  of  it.     He  gives  us  our  privileges 


THE    FAVORED    PEOPLE.  37 

not  in  the  ratio  of  our  merits,  but  in  his  own  sovereignty,  of 
which  he  gives  no  man  living  a  reason.  Privileges  are  given 
to  whomsoever  he  pleases,  and  at  whatsoever  time  he  pleases. 
and  as  largely  as  to  him  seems  fit.  But  we  may  learn,  from 
God's  giving  these  privileges,  whether  they  be  of  birth, 
wealth,  knowledge  or  influence,  that  he  is  God  ever  giving  in 
his  sovereignty,  and  that  we  are  the  mere  and  undeserving 
and  too  often  unthankful  recipients  only,  and  have  nothing 
but  what  he  gives,  original  or  communicated,  to  make  us  dif- 
fer, or  to  commend  us. 

In  the  passage  I  have  quoted  from  St.  Matthew  there  are 
two  characters  mentioned  —  prophets,  and  righteous  men ;  and 
we  find  that  such  and  so  exalted  and  so  numerous  were  the 
privileges  possessed  by  the  hearers  of  our  Lord,  that  prophets 
and  righteous  men  desired  to  see  them,  and  saw  them  not,  and 
to  hear  them,  and  heard  them  not.  If  this  was  applicable  to 
the  generation  that  listened  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  it  is  a 
fortiori  to  that  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  for  we  have  lights, 
and  means,  and  facilities,  and  opportunities  of  knowing  what 
is  the  truth,  and  of  feeling  its  force  and  virtue  in  our  own 
hearts,  which  those  on  whose  dust  we  now  tread  had-  not ; 
this  makes  us,  therefore,  responsible  before  God  to  a  degree 
to  which  they  of  that  generation  were  utter  strangers. 

These  two  classes  of  our  predecessors,  who  had  their  meas- 
ure of  responsibility  according  to  their  circumstances,  were 
"prophets"  and  "righteous  men."  These  are  generic  terms 
for  two  great  divisions  of  mankind.  The  "  prophet "  is  the 
symbol  of  gifts,  the  "  righteous  man  "  the  symbol  of  graces. 
A  prophet  is  one  who  has  a  special  gift,  the  righteous  man  is 
one  who  has  a  saving  grace.  The  prophet,  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  gifted,  may  be  taken  to  include  genius,  learning, 
wealth,  rank,  power  of  any  sort  or  of  any  degree.  The  right- 
eous man,  as  the  representative  of  graces,  may  be  taken  to 
comprehend  and  represent  all  the  children  of  God  of  every 
4 


88  THE    FAVORED    PEOPLE. 

name  and  measure,  in  the  history  or  within  the  limits  of  the 
Christian  church. 

We  have  here,  first,  the  prophets  or  the  gifted  men ;  we 
have  next  the  righteous,  or,  if  I  may  use  the  expression, 
the  graced  men.  Righteous  men  are  those  who  are  true 
believers  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  who  wear  not  their 
own  righteousness,  which  is  of  the  law,  but  that  which  is 
of  God  through  faith  in  him.  In  other  words,  they  occupy, 
first,  a  definite  state  —  they  are  righteous  in  the  sight  of  God 
through  Christ's  righteousness  ;  and,  secondly,  they  possess  a 
distinctive  character  —  they  are  righteous  by  the  operation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  within  them.  In  their  first  aspect,  they  are 
righteous  by  a  righteousness  upon  them;  in  their  second 
aspect,  they  are  righteous  by  a  righteousness  within  them : 
the  first  is  Christ's  righteousness  imputed  to  them ;  the  second 
is  the  Spirit's  righteousness  imparted  to  them :  the  one, 
their  state ;  the  other,  their  character :  the  two,  however, 
never  divorced ;  for  wherever  there  is  a  change  of  state  by 
Christ's  righteousness  being  upon  us,  there  is  a  change  of  char- 
acter by  the  Spirit's  work  begun  within  us.  These  are  two 
great  classes  of  mankind. 

We  have  to  learn,  what  the  Scripture  so  frequently  incul- 
cates, that  these  two,  —  the  one  of  providence,  that  is,  gifts ; 
the  other  of  grace,  that  is,  righteousnes  —  are  not  always  and 
everywhere  united  in  the  same  person.  One  may  be  a  prophet, 
and  not  be  a  righteous  man.  One  may  have  most  distinguish- 
ing gifts,  and  may  be  destitute  of  the  lowliest  or  the  most 
precious  graces.  At  the  last  day  some  will  come  to  our 
blessed  Lord,  and  say  to  him,  as  it  is  recorded  in  this  very 
Gospel,  "  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name  ?  " 
that  is,  "  Have  we  not  been  prophets,  and  in  thy  name  done 
miracles,  and  cast  out  devils  ?  "  And  what  will  he  say  unto 
them  ?  "  Then  will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew  you," 
—  not,  "  You  once  were  Christians,  and  I  cast  you  ofi","  but, 


THE    FAVORED    PEOPLE.  39 

"  I  never  recognized  you  as  Christians  at  all."  In  other 
■words,  there  may  be  gifts  that  shall  lift  to  a  prophet's  chair, 
and  there  may  be  combined  therewith  sin  and  depravity  that 
shall  sink  to  a  fiend's  condition.  There  may  be  gifts  that 
will  make  the  world  admire  and  applaud ;  there  may  be  total 
destitution  of  that  grace  which  teacheth  to  deny  ungodliness, 
and  to  live  soberly  and  righteously  and  godly  in  this  present 
world.  Balaam  lived  a  prophet's  life ;  he  died  a  sinner's 
and  a  criminal's  death.  Judas  was  an  apostle,  cast  out  devils, 
healed  diseases ;  but  it  is  written,  "  Judas  went  to  his  own 
place."  Privilege  lifts  us  to  a  loftier  position  of  responsibil- 
ity ;  grace  or  character  alone  fits  us  for  the  enjoyment  of  the 
holy  and  happy  life  of  the  blessed.  It  is  a  very  mysterious 
thing  that  God  should  arm  with  gifts  a  man  to  whom  he  im- 
parts no  grace  ;  but  is  it  not  plainly  illustrated  in  the  expe- 
rience of  every  day  ?  We  see  one  illustrious  for  his  genius 
as  a  poet,  but  degraded  as  a  man.  We  read  of  a  Shelley, 
who  could  write  poetry  that  would  thrill  the  innermost  chords 
of  the  human  soul,  but  who  professed  to  disbelieve  in  the  ex- 
istence of  a  God.  There  have  been  gifted  and  intellectual 
men  who  have  had  no  affinity  to  God,  no  sympathy  with 
Christ,  no  tokens  of  his  signature  and  sonship  at  all.  When 
we  hear  the  sceptic  say,  "  How  can  you  account  for  this,  that 
so  great  men  do  not  believe  in  Christianity,  while  peasants 
do  ?  "  I  answer.  The  very  Christianity  that  they  refuse  tells 
us  it  is  so;  and,  were  it  not  so,  a  prophecy  would  remain 
unfulfilled.  There  will  be  to  the  end  men  of  great  gifts, 
"  prophets,"  but  at  the  same  time  men  of  no  graces,  unright- 
eous and  ungodly  men. 

Of  these  two  classes  so  remarkable,  which  should  we  most 
desire?  0,  surely,  surely,  to  be  righteous  men.  But  is  this 
the  desire  of  the  world?  Is  there  not  many  a  man  who 
would  rather  be  called  dishonest  than  stupid?  Are  there 
not   thousands   who,  if  they  could   only   have   the   trumpet 


40  THE   FA  YOKED    PEOPLE. 

of  fame  sound  their  names  as  men  of  genius,  would  not  mind 
tliat  an  undertone  in  that  trumpet,  strictly  true,  should  speak 
of  the  innocence  they  have  wronged,  of  the  debts  they  have 
left  unpaid,  and  the  honest  and  industrious  tradesmen  they 
have  ruined  by  their  mad  and  ungodly  career  ?  Gifts  may  be 
admired  on  earth,  but  righteousness  alone  will  be  recognized 
in  heaven.  Let  us  never  forget  that  prophets  may  be  ap- 
plauded and  surrounded  by  the  hosannas  of  man,  but  right- 
eous men  alone  will  receive  the  ^approbation  that  cometh  from 
God  only.  0,  ten  thousand  times  better  be  a  lowly,  humble, 
poor  peasant,  possessed  of  rich  grace,  than  be  an  illustrious 
genius,  merely  dignified  by  great  gifts.  Pray  that  God  may 
give  or  may  not  give  gifts,  as  he  thinks  best ;  but  that  he 
may  give  grace,  for  without  that  we  cannot  live,  and  without 
it  we  cannot  joyously  die. 

We  are  not  responsible  to  God  for  the  measure  or  the  num- 
ber of  our  gifts,  but  we  are  responsible  to  God  for  having  or 
not  having  grace.  If  God  has  not  made  me  a  poet,  a  philos- 
opher, a  statesman,  a  noble,  a  prince,  that  is  not  my  blame  ; 
I  shall  never  be  judged  for  that ;  but,  if  I  am  not  at  this  mo- 
ment a  Christian,  this  is  my  blame,  and  the  blame  of  nobody 
else  upon  earth.  We  are  not  answerable  for  our  not  having 
gifts,  but  we  are  answerable  for  our  not  having  that  grace 
which  bringeth  salvation.  Few  may  be  prophets ;  all  may  be 
righteous  men.  God  will  not  condemn  you  because  you  had 
not  great  genius ;  but  God  will  visit  you,  if  at  that  day  you 
are  found  destitute  of  saving  and  sanctifying  grace. 

Let  me  notice,  as  the  second  division  of  my  subject,  —  for  I 
would  not  dwell  long  upon  each,  —  that  these  prophets,  or  gifted 
men,  and  these  righteous  men,  or  true  Christians,  looked  for- 
ward to  what  we  see  and  we  hear,  but  only  enjoyed  the  pros- 
pective look,  not  the  actual  and  blessed  possession.  It  is 
said,  they  looked  forward  to  them.  Unto  us  is  born  a  Sav- 
iour, who  is  Christ  the  Lord ;  unto  them  was  predicted  a 


THE    EAYORED    TEOPLE.  41 

Saviour,  who  was  to  be  Christ  the  Lord.  They  had  the 
Gospel  in  the  shadowy  outline  ;  we  have  it  in  its  brilliant 
manifestation.  They  had  the  Gospel  in  types  ;  we  have  it  in 
reality.  They  had  the  good  thing  in  promise  and  prophecy  ; 
we  have  it  in  performance.  They  lived  in  the  dim  and  misty 
twilight ;  we  live  in  its  bright  noonday.  They  saw  through 
a  glass  darkly  what  we  now  see  clearly,  just  as  our  successors 
in  a  future  dispensation  will  see  clearly  what  we  now  see 
through  a  glass  darkly.  They  were  saved  by  a  prospective 
hope  in  a  Saviour  that  was  to  be ;  we  are  saved  by  a  retro- 
spective trust  in  a  Saviour  that  has  been,  and  now  is,  and 
reigns. 

We  gather  from  this  fact  that  there  is,  and  has  been,  only 
one  true  religion  in  the  world.  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
were  Christians ;  Luther,  and  Calvin,  and  Knox,  and  Ridley, 
and  Latimer,  were  patriarchs.  Both  were  believers  in  the 
one  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  looked 
forward  to  the  Saviour  ;  Latimer,  affd  Calvin,  and  Knox,  and 
Luther,  looked  back  to  the  Saviour ;  but  it  was  the  same 
religion.  The  telescopes  through  which  they  looked  varied  ; 
the  bright  Sun  they  looked  at  was  the  same.  There  is  but 
one  ocean,  though  we  speak  of  Red  Sea,  and  Black  Sea,  and 
German  Sea,  and  Atlantic  Sea.  There  is  but  one  ocean 
deriving  its  name  from  the  shores  it  touches.  There  is  but 
one  religion  characterized  by  the  ages  against  which  it  cease- 
lessly beats,  —  the  Christian  religion  the  first,  the  Christian 
religion  the  last.  From  the  first  promise  that  pealed  amid 
the  wrecks  of  Paradise,  to  the  last  jubilee  that  shall  sound 
when  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  become  the  kingdoms 
of  our  God  and  of  his  Christ,  there  has  been,  and  is,  and  will 
be,  but  one  true  religion. 

Every  believer  thirsts  for  more  knowledge  than  he  has. 
These  righteous  men  and  prophets  desired  to  see  a  higher  and 
clearer  dispensation  than  that  they  lived  in ;  and  it  is  still 
4# 


42  THE    FAVORED    PEOPLE. 

the  characteristic  of  every  child  of  God  that  he  desires  to 
see  a  clearer  and  brighter  apocalypse  than  it  is  now  his 
privilege  to  see.  The  dawn  is  so  beautiful,  that  we  long  for 
the  bright  noonday.  The  bud  of  Sharon's  rose  is  so  fragrant, 
that  we  long  for  the  summer  that  will  reveal  the  full-blown 
blossom.  David,  after  he  had  seen  so  much  of  God,  still 
said,  "  My  soul  thirsteth  for  God."  Moses,  after  he  had  been 
on  the  mount,  and  had  his  face  tinged  with  the  unutterable 
glory,  yet  cried  still,  "  0  Lord,  show  me  thy  glory  !"  And 
Paul  saw  so  much  in  the  future  still  to  be  revealed,  that, 
"  forgetting  those  things  that  are  behind,  and  pressing  onward 
to  those  that  are  before,"  he  desired  to  "  attain  to  the  mark 
of  his  high  calling."  And  Peter  w^as  so  smitten  and  so 
charmed  with  the  religion  that  he  had,  that  he  said,  "  Whom 
having  not  seen  we  love ;  and  in  whom,  though  now  we  see 
him  not,  yet  believing,  we  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable,  and 
full  of  glory."  And  John,  who  saw  more  in  Patmos  than 
the  apostles  upon  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  was  so  struck 
with  the  splendor  and  so  interested  in  the  glory  of  that 
Divine  Saviour,  that,  as  soon  as  the. vision  had  passed  away, 
and  even  before  its  parting  wing  had  disappeared  from  his 
sight,  he  cried  again,  "  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly  ! " 
Wherever  there  is  true  grace,  there  is  a  feeling  of  desire  for 
more.  Who  does  not  wish  better  to  understand  unfulfilled 
prophecy  than  he  now  understands  it  ?  and  who  does  not 
desire  to  be  spared  till  that  day,  in  all  probability  not  fai 
distant,  when  earth  shall  undergo  its  second  baptism,  and 
genesis  shall  be  regenesis,  and  all  things  shall  be  made  new  ? 
There  is  no  sin  in  this.  There  is  no  more  sin  in  desiring  to 
be  spared  till  the  Lord  come,  than  there  was  sin  in  the  right- 
eous nf.OT:  desiring  to  see  those  things  which  the  apostles  saw. 
It  only  becomes  sin  when  it  frets  and  irritates,  and  ceases  to 
mete  and  limit  itself  by  the  petition,  "  0  Lord,  thy  will  be 
done  on  earth,  even  as  it  is  done  in  heaven  !  "     Thus  we  see 


TUE    FATORED    PEOPLE.  43 

the  desire  of  progress  inherent  in  the  thirst  of  believers.  The 
more  they  have,  the  more  they  still  desire. 

God's  communications  of  Christian  knowledge  have  been 
progressive.  No  one  can  shut  his  eyes  to  this  great  fact, 
that  the  patriarchs  knew  more  than  the  antediluvians,  and 
the  Jews  more  than  the  patriarchs,  and  the  prophets  more 
than  their  predecessors  ;  that  the  disciples  of  John  knew  more 
than  the  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees,  and  the  disciples  of  Jesus 
more  than  the  disciples  of  John.  The  apostles  after  Pente- 
cost knew  more  than  before  Pentecost ;  and  I  venture-  to 
assert,  not  without  examination,  that  Luther,  and  Calvin, 
and  Knox,  and  Ridley,  and  Latimer,  understood  more  of  the 
Gospel,  and  what  they  did  know  more  clearly,  than  Augustine, 
and  Chrysostom,  and  Jerome,  and  TertulHan,  among  the 
fathers.  The  truth  is,  there  is  prevalent  a  gross  misconcep- 
tion of  what  are  called  the  Christian  fathers.  We  call  them 
"  fathers  "  because  they  chronologically  preceded  us  ;  but  it 
is  not  chronological  nearness  or  distance  that  is  of  value,  but 
intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  advantages.  Now,  there 
were  fools  in  the  days  of  Chrysostom,  just  as  there  are  now ; 
and  therefore,  because  a  man  lived  in  Chrysostom's  days,  it 
does  not  prove  that  he  was  more  enlightened  than  if  he  lived 
in  the  days  of  Luther,  Ridley,  or  Latimer.  I  believe  that 
the  fathers,  so  called,  are  the  children,  and  that  the  enlight- 
ened divines  of  the  present  age  are  the  fathers  of  the  Chris- 
tian church. 

Chrysostom  had  the  same  Bible  that  Dr.  Chalmers  had; 
he  had  the  same  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  he  had  the 
same  intellect,  for  there  is  very  little  difference  of  intellect  in 
different  ages.  And  what  else  had  he  to  make  him  superior 
to  Dr.  Chalmers  ?  Nothing ;  but  he  had  much  to  make  him 
inferior ;  for  the  latter  had  all  the  discoveries  of  science,  and 
the  very  blunders  that  Chrysostom  made  were  like  wrecks  in 
the  Downs, — the  beacons  for  future  interpreters  to  steer  a 


44  THE   FAVORED   PEOPLE. 

clearer  course.  I  hold,  that  an  enlightened  divine  in  1853 
is  more  likely  to  be  a  sound  and  judicious  interpreter  of  the 
Bible  than  the  most  eminent  of  all  the  fathers  that  ever 
lived,  either  in  the  Nicene  age,  or  in  the  centuries  that 
immediately  succeeded  it.  The  idea  that  the  fathers,  because 
they  lived,  as  Chrysostoni  and  Augustine  did,  upwards  of 
three  hundred  years  after  our  Lord's  birth,  should  know  more 
than  we  eighteen  hundred  years  after  it,  is  absurd.  What 
more  do  we  know  of  Martin  Luther,  three  hundred  years  after 
his  birth,  than  those  who  will  live,  were  the  world  to  last  so 
long,  a  thousand  years  hence  ?  If  there  be  ten  years  between 
us  and  a  man,  unless  he  has  lived  within  the  compass  of  our 
lifetime,  and  we  have  come  personally  into  contact  with  him, 
we  know  little  more  of  him  than  persons  who  read  his  biog- 
raphy afterwards.  Nay,  it  is  more  likely  that  those  who  live 
a  thousand  years  after  a  man  will  know  more  of  him,  after 
impartial  criticism  has  examined  and  sifted  him,  than  those 
who  lived  a  hundred  years  after  him,  when  all  the  softening 
influence  of  human  love  is  modifying  and  altering  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  career.  And,  therefore,  I  contend  that 
the  true  fathers  of  the  church  are  those  who  live  now,  and 
that  the  beardless  boys  and  babes  of  Christendom  were  what 
the  Roman  Catholic  calls  the  fathers  of  the  Nicene  and 
Catholic  church. 

The  desires  of  true  believers  are  not  always  gratified 
according  to  their  intensity.  These  prophets  and  righteous 
men  desired  to  see  and  hear  what  they  were  not  permitted  to 
see  and  hear.  Such  desires,  I  have  said,  are  not  sinful,  if 
moderated  by  God's  will.  It  is  possible  that  God  will  not 
give  us  privilege,  though  it  is  perfectly  sure  that  he  will  give 
us  grace.  Because  God  does  not  give  me  a  gift  that  I  ask 
for,  it  does  not  follow  that  he  docs  not  hear  prayer.  Some 
people  ask  for  gifts  which  would  increase  a  responsibility  they 
cannot  now  discharge ;  but  when  God  refuses  these  gifts,  they 


THE   FAYOEED   PEOPtE.  45 

foolishly  argue,  God  is  not  the  hearer  of  prayer.  I  answer, 
his  refusal  is  no  disproof  that  he  is  the  hearer  of  prayer;  he 
knows  what  you  need,  and  will  not  give  what  you  earnestly 
ask,  which  would  be  a  load  that  would  press  you  downward, 
not  wings  that  would  lift  you  nearer  to  himself. 

God  has  had  righteous  men  in  every  age.  He  had  right- 
eous men  in  ancient  times,  he  has  more  now.  There  are  stars 
in  the  sky,  though  we  see  them  not ;  there  are  flowers  on  the 
earth,  though  we  gather  them  not ;  there  are  righteous  men 
where  we  do  not  see,  or  suspect  them,  or  where  we  do  posi- 
tively deny  they  are.  All  God's  sons  are  not  now  manifest, 
they  are  hidden  ;  and  we  must  not  say  that,  because  we  can 
count  the  stars  that  appear  within  our  horizon,  the  number 
we  can  count  comprehends  them  all.  All  that  we  can  see 
are  but  a  few  outposts  and  sentinels  of  the  mighty  multitude 
of  that  shining  host  outspread  upon  the  plains  of  infinitude, 
the  mere  thin  suburbs  of  which  are  all  that  man  can  discover 
in  his  dim  and  limited  vision.  There  were  not  only  "  prophets 
and  righteous  men,"  but  there  were  ^"-inany  prophets  and 
righteous  men."  In  the  end  there  will  be  far  more  than  the 
Antiuomian  in  his  exclusiveness  allows;  far  fewer  than  the 
Universalist  in  his  latitudinarianism  asserts;  and  yet  there 
will  be  a  great  multitude  that  no  man  can  number. 

Comparison  between  our  privileges  and  those  of  others 
ought  not  to  make  us  proud,  but  thankful.  That  man  who 
counts  his  privileges,  and  is  puffed  up  by  them,  has  never 
counted  them  right.  He  who  sees  and  recognizes  the  gifts 
of  God's  providence,  with  which  he  is  laden,  but  is  humbled 
by  a  sense  of  his  own  unworthiness,  while  thankful  for  G  od's 
goodness,  reads  and  weighs  his  mercies  aright.  And  when 
we  compare  what  we  are  with  what  others  are,  let  us  ever 
ask,  after  we  have  made  the  comparison,  "  Who  maketh  us 
to  differ  ?  "  And  let  us  remember  that,  if  we,  in  this  nine- 
teenth century,  have  more   numerous,  richer,  and  greater 


46  THE   FAVORED   PEOPLE. 

privileges,  tliat  God  is  not  ignorant  of  them.  He  watches  all 
the  capital  that  he  sets  afloat  among  mankind ;  he  takes  cog- 
nizance of  what  he  gives  in  providence,  as  truly  as  of  what 
he  bestows  in  grace.  He  came  to  the  fig-tree  three  years 
seeking  fruit,  and  he  had  so  taken  notice  of  it  that  he  said, . 
"  These  three  years  have  I  come  seeking  fruit,  and  found 
none."  He  takes  account  of  the  talents;  for  he  gives  to  one 
one,  to  another  five,  to  another  ten.  God  sees  exactly  what 
each  man  has,  and  can  do,  and  ought  to  do,  in  providence  :  and 
he  will  call  each  to  a  reckoning,  —  him  that  has  five  talents, 
for  five  talents  more ;  him  who  has  ten,  for  ten  more ;  and 
him  that  has  one,  for  the  duplicate  of  that.  We  are  not 
answerable  for  the  number  of  the  talents,  but  we  are  answer- 
able for  doubling  those  that  God  has  given  us. 

We  of  this  age  ought  to  be  eminently  distinguished  for  every 
grace.  The  fifth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  where  God  records  what 
he  has  done  for  his  vineyard,  is  simply  a  proof  of  what  God 
has  done  for  us :  "  Now  will  I  sing  to  my  well-beloved  a 
song  of  my  beloved  touching  his  vineyard.  My  well-beloved 
hath  a  vineyard  in  a  very  fruitful  hill :  and  he  fenced  it,  and 
gathered  out  the  stones  thereof,  and  planted  it  with  the 
choicest  vine,  and  built  a  tower  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  also 
made  a  wine-press  therein  :  and  he  looked  that  it  should  bring 
forth  grapes,  and  it  brought  forth  wild  grapes.  And  now,  0 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  and  men  of  Judah,  judge,  I  pray 
you,  betwixt  me  and  my  vineyard.  What  could  havo  been 
done  more  to  my  vineyard,  that  I  have  not  done  in  it  ?  where- 
fore, when  I  looked  that  it  should  bring  forth  grapes,  brought 
it  forth  wild  grapes  ?  " 

The  way  to  retain  our  privileges  is  to  make  use  of  them. 
Despised  privileges  are  the  most  deadly  judgments.  Neg- 
lected and  unthankful  mercies  always  end  in  the  sharpest 
'udgments.  God  suflers  no  waste.  If  he  sees  mercies  long 
given,  but  not  used,  or  abused,  he  takes  them  away.     Grace, 


^  THE    FAVOllED    PEOPLE.  47 

or  privilege,  is  not  an  everlasting  freehold.  The  candlestick, 
as  represented  in  the  history  of  the  seven  churches  of  Asia, 
is  not  a  fixture,  but  a  movable  thing.  England  has  no  ever- 
lasting lease  of  Christianity.  If  England  ceases  to  be  true, 
and  to  respond  to  her  magnificent  privileges,  her  candlestick, 
like  thoSe  of  the  seven  churches  of  Asia,  will  be  removed 
from  its  place  also ;  wherever  there  are  abused  mercies,  there 
are  the  greatest  provocatives  to  awful  and  consuming  judg- 
ments. * 

Let  us  feel  in  some  degree  our  weight  of  responsibility,  and 
seek,  in  the  light  that  we  have,  to  live  that  precious  life,  the 
life  of  God,  which  Christ  is.  "  For,"  argues  an  apostle,  in 
almost  appalling  language,  "  if  we  sin  wilfully  after  that  we 
have  received  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  there  remaineth 
no  more  sacrifice  for  sins ;  "  that  is,  if  we  reject  the  only  one, 
there  is  none  other,  "  but  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of 
judgment  and  fiery  indignation,  which  shall  devour  the  adver- 
saries." Then  hear  our  responsibility.  "  He  that  despised 
Moses'  law  died  without  mercy  under  two  or  three  witnesses," 
where  there  was  very  little  light:  "  of  how  much  sorer  pun- 
ishment, suppose  ye,  shall  he  be  thought  worthy,  who  hath 
trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  and  hath  counted  the 
blood  of  the  covenant,  wherewith  he  was  sanctified,  an  unholy 
thing,  and  hath  done  despite  unto  the  Spirit  of  grace  ?  "  May 
we  deeply  feel  that,  to  sit  in  our  accustomed  pew,  and  to 
hear  the  glorious  Gospel,  is,  in  one  respect,  the  most  joyous 
place  that  man  can  occupy ;  but  it  is,  in  another,  the  most 
awfully  solemn  position  on  earth.  Neglected  calls  are 
deadening  influences.  Duties  ever  heard  and  never  done 
harden  the  heart  more  and  more.  He  who  hears  what  he 
knows  to  be  obligation,  and  puts  it  ofi"  till  to-morrow,  when 
to-morrow  comes  will  be  more  able  and  ready  to  put  it  oif 
again.  The  truth  faithfully  preached  ruins  or  restores. 
The  same  sun  that  melts  one  substance   seems  to  harden 


48  THE   FAVORED    PEOPLE. 

another.  The  same  Gospel  that  is  the  savor  of  life  to  one 
is  the  savor  of  death  to  another.  And,  though  a  phrase 
used  by  the  Puritans  seems  a  very  coarse  expression,  men 
become  "  gospel-hardened  "  when  "  they  hear  as  God's  peo- 
ple hear,  while  their  hearts  go  after  their  covetousness." 

Let  us  pray  that,  occupying  a  place  almost  bordering  on 
the  judgment  bar,  we,  of  this  age,  may  so  hear,  and  the 
preacher  of  the  Gospel  may  so  speak,  that,  while  prophets  and 
righteous  men  de^red  to  see  what  we  see,  and  hear  what  we 
hear,  and  were  not  permitted,  we  shall  derive  from  our  sight, 
and  from  our  hearing,  corresponding  and  increasing  advan- 
tages, even  grace  and  glory. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   nAPPY   HEIRS   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

"  If  poverty  —  a  bitter  medicine  —  cures 
The  soul's  distempers,  blessed  are  the  poor  ; 
Yea,  if  ye  be  Christ's  poor,  thrice  blessed  men  are  ye." 

"  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven." — Matthew  5  :  3. 

How  beautiful  is  the  sermon  delivered  on  the  Mount !  The 
penman,  Matthew,  was  originally  a  publican,  or  a  Roraai* 
tax-gatherer,  of  equivocal  repute  and  character  amongst  the 
Jews.  If  he  composed  this  chapter  by  his  own  wisdom,  he 
performed  a  greater  miracle  than  any  recorded  in  the  New 
Testament.  It  is  utterly  improbable,  not  to  say  impossible, 
that  any  one,  except  by  inspiration  from  on  high,  could  have 
written  a  chapter  that  breathes  so  pure,  so  lofty,  so  compre- 
hensive a  morality.  It  bears  upon  its  face  the  impress  of  its 
original ;  it  is  transparently  a  transcript  from  on  high ;  it 
was  worthy  of  the  speaker ;  it  is  clearly  the  teaching  of  him 
"  who  spake  "  (and  how  confirmatory  of  this  is  the  chapter  !) 
"  as  never  man  spake." 

What  was  the  occasion  of  this  sermon  being  spoken  ?  It 
was  this :  Jesus  saw  a  great  multitude  gathered  around  him. 
Souls  assembled  ready  to  hear  him  was  his  reason  for  preach- 
ing, and  it  ought  to  be  so  still.  God's  seedsmen  should  sow 
beside  all  waters  ;  God's  fishers,  as  fishers  of  men,  should  let 
down  their  net  into  all  seas.  We  should  not  be  excelled  by 
5 


50  THE    HAPPY    HEIRS    OF    THE    KINGDOM, 

the  children  of  the  world,  who  seize  the  opportunities  as  they 
sweep  past,  and  make  them  minister  to  the  accomplishment 
of  the  ends,  the  plans,  or  the  purposes,  which  they  have  in 
view. 

The  pulpit  from  which  Jesus  spake  was  a  mountain.  It  is 
proper  there  should  be  places  of  public  worship  ;  it  would 
be  improper,  notwithstanding,  to  pronounce  any  place  com- 
mon or  unclean.  When  Jesus  allied  himself  to  our  human- 
ity, he  consecrated  all  the  earth ;  so  that  wherever  there  are 
souls  to  be  taught,  and  lips  eloquent  with  truth,  in  the 
height  or  in  the  depth,  by  the  river  side  or  on  the  bosom  of 
the  deep,  there  is  a  holy  place  for  holy  work ;  for  all  is 
sacred  when  it  can  be  made  fairly  subservient  to  sacred  and 
solemn  ends. 

The  contrast  between  this  sermon  delivered  from  this 
mount,  and  the  law,  is  striking.  The  law  was  thundered 
from  Mount  Sinai,  amid  lightnings  that  made  Israel  quake ; 
the  Gospel  falls,  here,  in  benedictions,  softly  and  gently  as 
the  morning  dew  that  comes  from  heaven,  and  spreads  in  rills 
from  the  mountain  side  to  water  all  the  parched  places  of  the 
earth.  The  harsh  trumpet  introduced  the  law  by  "  Thou  shalt 
not ;  "  the  still,  small,  musical  voice  of  Jesus  introduces  his 
law  in  such  formulas  as  these,  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit 
for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  The  law  commands, 
"Thou  shalt,"  and  "Thou  shalt  not;"  but  the  Gospel  sets 
the  duty  in  the  bosom  of  a  benediction,  and  adds,  over  and 
above,  the  happy  reward  to  which  it  points  as  a  stimulus  to 
the  performance  of  the  duty,  and  an  explanation  of  the 
nature  and  fruits  of  the  benediction  in  which  it  is  em- 
bosomed. Jesus  speaks  from  this  mount  as  a  teacher  full  of 
sympathy  and  love.  He  spoke  from  Mount  Sinai  as  the 
great  lawgiver.  There  he  enunciated  the  naked  law  in  the 
stern  and  hard  terms  of  Sinai ;  but  here  he  clothes  his  lesson 
with  the  colors  of  hope ;  he  overarches  the  path  of  life  with 


THE   HAPPY    HEIRS   OF    THE   KINGDOM.  51 

the  splendors  of  the  heavenly  bow,  and  sets  duties,  like 
beautiful  gems,  in  the  bosoms  of  bright  benedictions,  that 
man  may  be  won  to  love  under  the  Gospel,  instead  of  being 
driven  to  duty  as  under  the  law. 

There  is,  perhaps,  in  this  chapter  a  connecting  link  or 
chain  running  through  all  the  benedictions  pronounced  in  it, 
and  stringing  them  together  as  gems.  Humility,  or  the  poor 
in  spirit,  is  the  best  preparation  for  that  sorrow  that  laments 
the  want  of  all  that  is  holy  and  pure ;  and  this  is  not  a  pas- 
sion, but  a  subdued  and  settled  meekness,  submissiveness,  or 
quiet  of  soul,  most  beautiful  before  God,  which  hungers  and 
thirsts  after  righteousness  ;  to  which  is  added  the  promise, 
that  it  shall  be  filled. 

Who  are  the  truly  happy  ?  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  What  is  the 
pursuit  of  all  mankind  ?  Happiness.  What  do  we  all  con- 
stantly clutch  at,  and  constantly  miss,  ever  feeling  that  we 
are  to  be,  but  are  not  yet,  blessed  ?  It  is  happiness.  Every 
man  indicates,  by  the  pursuit  which  governs  his  ambition, 
that  he  has  lost  his  aboriginal  happiness ;  and  that  he 
cherishes,  what  he  has  not  lost,  the  hope  of  still  obtaining  it. 
But  all  experience  proves  that  happiness  grows  not  in 
earthly  soil ;  that  it  is  not  to  be  attained  by  any  sublunary 
pursuit,  or  from  any  temporal  possession.  Man  is  no  more 
satisfied  with  his  enjoyments,  when  he  has  them,  than  he  was 
when  he  pursued  them.  He  thinks,  if  he  could  reach  that 
object,  he  would  he  happy  ;  he  reaches  it,  and  he  is  not  one 
whit  more  happy.  What  seemed  a  luxury  in  prospective 
becomes  a  necessity  in  possession  ;  and  he  still  looks,  and 
longs,  and  thirsts,  and  pants,  for  more.  But  our  Lord  says 
that,  while  man  cannot  be  happy  in  the  pursuit  of  earthly 
things,  whilst  it  is  written  upon  all  the  springs,  fountains  and 
cisterns  of  time,  "  Whoso  drinketh  of  this  water  shall  thirst 
?igain,"  it  is  inscribed  and  legible  to  faith,  if  not  to  sight, 


52  THE   HAPPY   HEIRS   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

upon  the  fountain  of  living  waters,  "  He  that  drinketh  of  the 
water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst,  but  it  shall  be 
within  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  unto  everlasting 
life." 

Happiness  is  to  be  had  on  earth ;  but  it  is  not  to  be  had 
from  earth.  The  word  "blessed"  might  just  as  well  be 
translated  "  happy."  "  Happy  are  the  poor  in  spirit :  for 
theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  "  and  the  whole  Bible  indi- 
cates that  there  are  blessings  now  in  possession, — however 
few  or  far  between,  —  as  well  as  blessings  in  reversion. 
"  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  sins  are  forgiven."  "  Blessed, 
or  happy,  is  the  man  whom  thou  choosest."  "  Blessed,  or 
happy,  are  the  people  whose  God  is  the  Lord."  "  Blessed  is 
the  man  who  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly;  " 
and  "  Blessed  are  the  mourners ;  blessed  are  the  meek ; 
blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God,  and  do  it."  In 
other  words,  a  Christian  has  a  present,  as  well  as  a  prospect- 
ive, blessedness.  A  man  who  is  a  Christian  must  be  happy, 
and  the  man  who  is  not  a  Christian  never  can  be  really 
happy.  He,  surely,  has  ground  to  be  happy  who  feels  his 
sins  are  forgiven,  that  his  body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  that  his  Intercessor  beside  the  throne  is  the  Lord  of 
glory,  that  the  everlasting  God  is  his  Father,  that  eternity  is 
the  measure  of  his  ultimate  lifetime,  and  infinitude  the 
bounds  of  his  illimitable  and  happy  home.  "  Happy  is  the 
man  who  is  in  such  a  case ;  yea,  blessed  are  the  people  whose 
God  is  the  Lord." 

Thus  blessedness,  or  happiness,  which  is  attached  to  every 
character  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  is  happiness  tested 
and  felt  by  the  believer  just  in  those  circumstances  in  which 
it  is  needed.  It  is  not  when  the  cup  runs  over,  and  when 
sunshine  surrounds  us,  that  we  need  most  the  consolations, 
though  we  need  most  the  directions,  of  the  word  of  God ;  but 
\t  is  when  the  sky  is  overcast  above,  and  the  earth  is  all 


THE   HAPPY   HEIRS   OF   THE   KINGDOM.  53 

barrenness  beneath,  and  our  first-born  is  smitten,  or  the  results 
of  our  industry  are  swept  away,  that  man  gropes  and  feels 
and  yearns  for  a  compensatory  happiness,  that  he  now  learns 
earth  cannot  give,  and  that  the  Gospel  tells  him  Christ  has  to 
bestow.  Hence,  Christianity  sanctifies  our  joys,  and  sweetens 
our  bitterest  and  deepest  sorrows.  It  has  springs  that  pour 
forth  their  refreshing  waters  in  the  winter ;  it  has  flowers 
that  bloom  in  the  darkest  night ;  the  Christian's  harp-strings 
emit  their  sweetest  music  when  swept  by  the  winds  of  autumn 
and  of  winter.  In  affliction,  he  has  joys  that  in  its  richest 
prosperity  the  world  never  tasted.  This  world's  joys  are  like 
the  streams  fed  by  the  thunder-shower,  full  and  overflowing 
for  a  little,  but  soon  evaporating  or  spent,  and  leaving  their 
channels  dry  when  the  clouds  that  fed  them  are  gone.  But 
the  Christian's  joys  are  like  the  streams  that  come  from  the 
Alpine  glaciers,  flowing  in  winter,  but  fullest  in  summer,  when 
all  other  streams  are  dry  beside.  Blessed  is  the  man  who 
has  any,  or  all,  of  the  features  that  are  laid  down  here,  n: 
in  prospect  only,  but  in  possession ;  it  is  a  present,  not  merely 
a  promised,  happiness. 

But  we  have,  in  the  verse  prefixed  to  this  chapter,  a  char- 
acter that  is  declared  to  be  blessed.  The  blessing  is  pro- 
nounced upon  a  character,  not  on  a  state.  "  Blessed  are  the 
poor  in  spirit."  What  a  shock  to  the  proud  Pharisee  this 
first  sentence  of  the  Saviour's  first  sermon  must  have  been ! 
He  thought,  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  phylactery  is  longest, 
broadest  and  most  legible.  Blessed  is  the  man  who  is  hailed 
as  llabbi,  and  sits  in  Moses'  seat,  and  expounds  the  law  after 
the  traditions  of  the  elders."  But  Jesus  says,  "  Nay ;  but 
blessed  is  the  man,  whether  he  be  Pharisee,  or  layman,  or 
scribe,  or  publican,  or  sinner,  who  has  been  brought  to  feel 
that  poverty  of  spirit  which  is  a  preparation  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven."  It  is  surely  a  precious  grace :  let  us  inquire 
what  is  meant  by  it.  It  does  not  mean,  as  some  have  tried 
5=^ 


54  THE   HAPPY   HEIRS   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

to  render  it,  being  simply,  literally  poor.  A  poor  man  has 
special  privileges  assigned  him  in  the  Gospel ;  but  his  poverty 
is  never  stated  as  a  merit,  or  a  qualification  for  heaven.  If 
the  poor  have  special  privileges,  it  only  lays  upon  them  spe- 
cial responsibility.  Instead,  therefore,  of  being  proud  because 
to  the  poor  the  Gospel  was  first  preached,  they  ought  to  feel 
the  more  humbled  under  a  sense  of  a  deeper  responsibility 
given  by  so  great  a  privilege.  Poverty  may  part  with  all 
except  its  pride  i  and  riches  may  retain,  amidst  all  its  wealth, 
poverty  of  spirit.  Mere  physical  poverty  may  be  the  result 
of  crime ;  therefore  it  is  not  a  grace.  Riches  may  be  the 
result  of  industry ;  therefore  wealth  cannot  be  a  demerit.  It 
is  not  the  outward  state  that  Christ  speaks  of,  but  the  inward 
character.  It  is  not  wealth  that  makes  truly  rich,  nor  pov- 
erty that  makes  truly  poor  ;  it  is  poverty  of  spirit  that  is  a 
preliminary  to  an  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

To  be  "poor  in  spirit"  is  not  spiritual  poverty.  It  is  not 
a  blessed  thing  to  be  spiritually  poor.  Spiritual  poverty  is 
the  possession  and  the  brand  of  every  man  who  is  a  stranger 
to  the  Gospel.  It  was  pronounced  a  sin  in  the  church  of 
Laodicea,  —  "  Thou  knowest  not  that  thou  art  poor,  and  mis- 
erable, and  naked,  and  blind."  Spiritual  poverty  is  the 
greatest  of  all  calamities ;  it  is  not,  by  the  very  nature  of  the 
thing,  a  spiritual  grace. 

Nor  is  it  voluntary  poverty,  as  the  Romish  church  inter- 
prets this  passage.  They  say  it  is  a  blessed  poverty  to  lay 
aside  all  possessions,  sequester  yourself  from  all  society,  give 
up  all  you  have  to  the  church,  and  live  a  life  of  poverty  and 
want.  Such  poverty  is  not  enjoined  in  the  Scripture.  On 
the  contrary,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  leaving  and  quarrelling 
with  that  state  in  which  it  has  pleased  God  to  place  us,  and 
which  we  are  not  to  renounce  ;  but  in  which  we  are  so  to  let 
our  lights  shine  before  men  that  they  may  glorify  our  Father 
who  is  in  heaven. 


THE   HAPPY   HEIRS    OF   THE   KINGDOM.  55 

The  "poor  in  spirit"  are  not  the  poor-spirited;  it  does  not 
mean  that  the  mean  and  the  cowardly  are  blessed.  A  Chris- 
tian has  an  heroic  heart ;  Christian  martyrs  have  been  the 
world's  greatest  and  sublimest  heroes ;  and,  therefore,  to  sup- 
pose that  it  means  poor-spirited  and  mean,  is  to  misinterpret 
and  pervert  the  meaning  of  the  passage. 

What,  then,  is  being  "  poor  in  spirit "  ?  It  specially  de- 
notes those  who  renounce  every  claim  to  approbation  or 
reward  on  the  part  of  their  Father  who  is  in  heaven ;  those 
who  see  in  themselves  nothing  that  entitles  them  to  one  atom 
of  glory ;  who  feel  that,  if  dealt  with  according  to  their 
deserts,  there  would  be  found  that  in  them  which  would  sink 
them  as  would  an  ocean-load  to  the  depths  of  misery.  The 
poor  in  spirit  are  they  who  can  pray,  with  the  publican,  "  God 
be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner,"  or,  who  can  say,  with  the  apostle, 
"  I  count  all  but  loss,  that  I  may  be  found  in  Christ,  not  hav- 
ing my  own  righteousness,  which  is  of  the  law,  but  the  right- 
eousness which  is  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  They  who  can 
so  pray,  who  so  feel,  give  clear  and  unequivocal  evidence 
that  they  are  in  the  category  of  the  "  poor  in  spirit." 

This  grace  is  put  at  the  head  and  forefront  of  all  the  other 
graces  enumerated  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  because  it  is 
the  meet  and  impressive  introduction  to  all.  It  is  he  who 
feels  most  poignantly  his  need  of  all  who  will  most  heartily 
hail  the  promise  of  the  free  gift  of  all.  They  who  feel  that 
they  are  empty  will  ask  most  earnestly  and  heartily  to  be 
filled.  It  is  the  poor  in  spirit,  the  truly  humble,  whose  hearts 
are  emptied  of  every  rival,  who  will  appreciate  most  the  glo- 
rious provision  of  the  Gospel.  It  was  the  wounded  Israelite, 
who  feared  the  certainty  of  death,  that  looked  most  intentlj^  at 
the  brass  serpent,  and  was  healed.  It  was  not  when  the 
prodigal  was  in  rags  and  was  destitute  of  all,  but  when  he 
felt  that  he  was  so,  and  recollected  that  there  was  enough  in 
his  father's  home,  that  he  came  to  the  magnanimous  resolu- 


56  TEE   HAPPY   HEIRS    OE   THE   KINGDOM. 

tion,  "  I  will  arise,  and  go  to  my  father ;  and  will  say  unto 
him,  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  before  thee, 
and  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son."  It  is  only 
the  poor  in  spirit  who  are  truly  fit  to  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  Our  title  to  heaven  is  nothing  in  us,  but  Christ's 
righteousness  without  us ;  but  our  fitness  for  heaven  is  just 
that  state  of  heart  which  is  detailed  at  length  in  the  success- 
ive beatitudes  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The  gate  of 
heaven  and  the  way  to  heaven  are  called  strait  and  narrow ; 
but  they  are  so,  not  in  themselves  absolutely,  but  relatively 
to  us.  The  gate  of  heaven  is  so  wide,  and  the  road  that  leads 
to  it  is  so  plain,  that  any  "  wayfaring  man,"  even  if  the  great- 
est sinner,  who  seeks  admission  by  the  righteousness  of  Christ, 
can  have  access ;  but  we  desire  to  take  so  much  with  us,  that 
we  find  the  gate  strait  and  the  road  narrow,  forgetting  it  is 
we  who  are  faulty,  because  we  are  so  loaded  and  encumbered 
with  many  things,  and  are  not  poor  in  spirit,  flinging  off  all, 
and  counting  all  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  Jesus  Christ. 

This  poverty  of  spirit  is  the  greatest  jDreparation  for  prayer. 
That  man  only  prays  well  who  feels  deeply  his  own  empti- 
ness, nothingness,  poverty,  in  the  sight  of  God.  Prayer  is 
the  expiration  and  breath  of  poverty  of  spirit.  He  who  feels 
that  he  is  rich  asks  for  nothing ;  he  who  feels  and  knows 
that  he  is  poor  is  humbled  by  a  sense  of  his  want,  and  ani- 
mated only  by  the  promise  of  God  to  give  all  that  he  needs, 
to  appeal  to  him  in  prayer. 

It  is  to  the  poor  in  spirit  only  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
is  truly  precious.  When  we  feel  that  we  have  nothing  that 
can  justify  us,  that  we  can  do  nothing  that  can  atone  for  our 
transgressions,  and  hear  that  God  has  provided  a  Saviour,  in 
whom  we  are  complete,  wanting  nothing,  then  Christ  seems  to 
us  truly  precious,  and  we  flee  to  him  as  to  the  only  Saviour, 
trust  in  him  as  the  only  foundation,  and  ask  heaven  in  his 


THE   HAPPY   HEIRS   OP   THE   KINGDOM.  57 

name,  and  for  his  sake  only,  and  in  no  respect  or  degree  for 
our  own. 

1*0  those  who  are  poor  in  spirit  God  will  appear  truly 
great ;  and,  in  proportion  as  they  see  God  truly  great,  will 
they  feel  themselves  truly  poor.  It  was  Abraham,  the  friend 
of  God,  who,  witnessing  his  glory,  exclaimed,  "  I  am  but  dust 
and  ashes."  It  was  after  Job  beheld  the  majesty  of  God, 
that  he  said,  "  I  abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes." 
It  was  after  Jacob  had  seen  and  tasted  God's  goodness,  that 
he  said,  •'  I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  thy  mercies."  It 
is  the  truly  humble  who  see  God  to  be  truly  high ;  and  this 
sight  lays  down  every  proud  thought,  and  helps  to  make  us 
more  and  more  the  poor  in  spirit,  whose  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

Wherever  there  exists  this  poverty  of  spirit,  there  will  be 
contentment  with  that  state  in  which  God  has  been  pleased  to 
place  us.  What  is  the  secret  of  discontent  with  our  condition 
in  life  ?  An  idea  that  we  deserve  more  from  God  than  he 
has  given  us.  But,  when  we  have  this  inner  impression  that 
we  have  lost  all  by  sin,  that  in  us  there  dwelleth  no  good 
thing,  that  "  there  is  no  health  in  us,"  we  are  satisfied  with 
the  cup  of  cold  water,  knowing  that  it  is  more  than  we  de- 
serve, and  we  begin  to  learn  what  it  is  to  be  content,  and, 
more  than  that,  to  feel  that  we  have  all  things  necessary  for 
life  and  godliness.  There  is  no  ambitious  wing,  ever  soaring 
and  never  satisfied,  where  there  is  within  true  poverty  of 
spirit. 

The  most  eminent  Christians  in  the  Bible  have  been  char- 
acterized by  this  grace.  For  instance,  the  Baptist  said,  I  am 
not  worthy  to  unloose  his  shoe-latchet.  I  must  decrease  ;  He 
must  increase.  I  am  not  the  Messiah ;  He  cometh  after  me. 
I  am  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness.  I  know  not 
a  more  interesting  specimen  of  this  poverty  of  spirit  than  the 
Virgin  Mary.     When  the  archangel  announced  the  Saviour's 


58  THE   HAPPY   HEIES   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

birth,  she  said,  in  the  meekness  of  her  heart  and  the  humility 
of  her  spirit,  "  Behold  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord  :  be  it  unto 
me  according  to  thy  word." 

Having  thus  noticed,  very  briefly,  the  outward  fruits  of 
poverty  of  spirit,  let  us  study  the  promise,  "  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  This  promise  shows  that  poverty  is 
wealth,  lowliness  is  grandeur,  emptiness  is  fulness,  having 
nothing  is  possessing  all,  even  a  kingdom  of  glory  that 
passeth  not  away.  This  kingdom  is  delineated  in  chapters 
that  we  have  explained  at  length,  the  twenty-first  and  twenty- 
second  chapters  of  Revelation.  Its  gates  are  pearl ;  its 
foundations,  precious  stones  ;  its  river,  the  river  of  life ;  its 
tree,  the  tree  of  life  ;  its  glory,  neither  sun  nor  moon,  but  the 
Lord  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb.  It  is  a  kingdom  that 
endures  forever.  Persia,  Macedonia,  Greece  and  Kome,  have 
all  passed  away,  and  left  scarce  a  memorial  behind ;  but  this 
kingdom  advances  still.  It  emerges  into  greater  lustre  every 
day ;  it  lasts  as  long  as  the  sun,  and  they  that  are  poor  in 
spirit  are  more  and  more  becoming  dead  to  the  attractions 
of  the  kingdoms  of  this  world,  and  more  and  more  alive 
to  the  glory,  the  attractions,  and  the  influence  of  that 
dawning  realm  of  order  and  of  beauty,  which  is  theirs  in 
reversion. 

The  subjects  of  this  kingdom  are  described  as  "  kings  and 
priests  unto  God,"  having  palms  as  sceptres,  crowns  upon 
their  heads,  free,  yet  acting  as  the  consecrated  servants  of 
God,  hungering  no  more,  thirsting  no  more,  but  serving  him 
day  and  night  in  his  temple,  without  ceasing. 

Thus  Christ's  religion  is  the  secret  of  the  blessed  life. 
There  is  true  enjoyment  in  true  religion.  In  the  deepest 
sacrifice  we  make  for  it,  there  is  a  compensatory  happiness 
within;  and  at  the  close,  the  subject  of  promise,  a  kingdom,  a 
crown,  and  an  inheritance  incorruptible  and  undefiled.  In 
the  deepest  afiiiction  a  Christian  may  thus  comfort  himself; 


TUE   HArPY    UEIRS    OF    TUE    KINGDOM.  59 

and,  when  all  earth's  consohitions  are  gone,  and  when  those 
of  heaven  seem  few  and  far  between,  he  can  look  beyond  the 
visible  horizon,  and  anticipate,  when  time  and  things  temporal 
shall  be  no  more,  a  kingdom  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away. 
This  is  indeed  a  blessed  life.     It  is  heaven  on  earth. 


CHAPTER     IV. 

SORROW   SWEETENED. 

*«  Though  the  cause  of  evil  prosper,  yet  't  is  ti-uth  alone  is  strong. 
And,  albeit  she  wanders  outcast  now,  I  see  around  her  throng 
Troops  of  beautiful  tall  angels,  to  enshield  her  from  all  wrong." 

*'  It  hath  caught  a  touch  of  sadness. 

Yet  it  is  not  sad  : 
It  hath  tones  of  clearest  gladness, 

Yet  it  is  not  glad  : 
A  dim  sweet  twilight  voice  it  is. 
When  to-day's  accustomed  blue 
Is  over-grayed  with  memories, 
With  starry  feelings  guided  through."  ' 

"  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn  :  for  they  shall  be  comforted." 

Matthew  5:4. 

What  is  the  sorrow  that  is  blessed  ?  What  is  the  mourn- 
ing that  carries  in  its  bosom  a  distinctive  benediction  ?  Surely 
it  is  not  the  mere  vulgar  sorrow  that  every  man  feels.  There 
is  no  claim  in  it  to  a  distinctive  blessing.  It  is  less  the  sor- 
row, and  more  the  state  of  him  who  sorrows,  on  which  the 
benediction  is  pronounced.  There  is  a  sorrow  that  is  human, 
which  even  the  beasts  of  the  field  feel ;  there  is  a  sorrow  that 
is  demoniac,  which  chafed  ambition  or  disappointed  vanity 
writhes  under ;  there  is  also  a  sorrow  that  is  the  evidence  of 
a  sanctified  and  renovated  heart ;  upon  such  sorrow  he  has 
pronounced  a  benediction,  whose  words  and  fiat  are  yea  and 
amen. 


SORROW    SWEETENED.  61 

Sorrow  such  as  this,  however  blessed  it  may  be,  has  nothing 
in  it  in  any  sense  expiatory.  All  the  tears  that  weeper  ever 
shed  never  yet  cancelled  a  single  sin.  All  the  penitential 
sorrows  that  ever  pierced  the  agonized  heart  never  secured, 
by  their  merit,  the  forgiveness  of  one  transgression.  A 
humble  and  a  broken  heart  is,  indeed,  a  sacrifice,  but  it  is  not 
a  propitiation;  it  is  a  spiritual  offering,  acceptable  on  the 
altar  of  God,  through  the  merits  of  him  who  mercifully  pierced 
it.  His  very  sorrow  springs  from  a  sight  of  him  who  is  ex- 
alted to  give  repentance  and  remission  of  sins.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  a  cause,  but  an  effect. 

Having  seen  what  this  sorrow  is  not,  let  us  try  to  ascertain 
what  it  really  is.  It  is,  in  the  fii'st  place,  sorrow  at  the  recol- 
lection and  the  sense  of  sin.  A  child  grieves  that  he  has 
offended  a  parent ;  a  Christian  son  mourns  not  less  that  he 
should  have  sinned  against  a  Father  who  so  loved  him  that, 
as  the  expression,  and  the  measure,  and  the  channel,  of  that 
love,  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
on  him  might  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life.  This  sorrow 
may  not  exhaust  itself  in  tears ;  for  there  is  a  sorrow  in  the 
human  heart  too  deep  for  tears,  too  intense  to  find  outer  ex- 
pression. There  is  no  grief  like  that  which  cannot  weep.  So 
there  may  be  a  sorrow  in  a  Christian's  heart  invisible  to  the 
world,  but  deep  and  real ;  more  a  principle  from  its  fixity 
than  a  passion  for  its  fervor,  and,  in  all  its  aspects,  proving 
itself  the  godly  sorrow  that  worketh  repentance  not  to  be 
repented  of,  and  on  which  the  beatitude  is  written,  "  Blessed 
are  they  that  mourn :  for  they  shall  be  comforted." 

This  sorrow  is  rather  for  sin  than  for  the  consequences  of 
sin.  There  is  a  vital  and  very  practical  distinction  here. 
Any  man  will  feel  deeply  the  consequences  of  his  sin,  when 
there  is  no  help  for  it ;  but  only  a  Christian  feels  poignantly 
the  inherent  bitterness  of  the  sin,  irrespective  of  the  conse- 
quences of  it.  Judas  mourned  for  his  sin,  but  it  was  on 
6 


62  SORROW    SWEETENED. 

account  of  the  effects  of  it.  Peter  mourned  after  his  sin  but 
it  was  not  the  effects  of  it,  but  the  sin  itself,  that  he  deplored. 
Pharaoh  repented  not,  though  he  wept,  when  he  cried,  in  his 
agonj,  "  Take  away  the  frogs,"  that  is,  the  judgment ;  but 
David  mourned  rightly  when  he  said,  "  Take  away  my  iniqui- 
ties, I  beseech  thee."  Where  there  is  a  sorrow  sanctified  by 
a  Saviour's  benediction,  it  exists  in  the  heart,  it  may  be  in- 
visible to  man,  often  a  principle,  occasionally  a  passion,  which 
mourns  and  grieves  because  of  sin  as  a  thing  hateful  in  itself, 
rather  than  at  the  consequences  of  that  sin,  as  injurious  to  his 
comfort  and  his  peace. 

The  sorrow  that  is  specially  blessed  extends  not  only  to 
sins  that  are  known  or  public,  but  to  secret  sins.  I  do  not 
know  a  more  striking  or  indisputable  proof  of  a  Christian 
heart  than  sorrow  because  of  sins  which  the  world  knows 
nothing  of.  Wherever  there  is  that  sorrow  which  sees  stain 
and  defilement  in  sin,  and  reason  for  grief  in  that  which  no 
eye  has  seen,  and  no  ear  has  heard,  there  is  the  truest  expo- 
nent of  a  Christian  heart,  the  clearest  proof  that  the  sorrow 
is  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  will  have,  and  now 
has,  the  benediction  that  is  here  pronounced,  "  Blessed  are 
they  that  mourn."  David  sorrowed  for  numbering  the  people, 
which  the  world  did  not  see  to  be  sin,  as  well  as  for  the  mur- 
der that  he  committed,  which  all  men  hated ;  and  David, 
when  he  prayed  most  spiritually,  most  fervently,  said, 
"  Cleanse  thou  me  from  secret  faults."  That  prayer  or 
clause  in  David's  litany  would  be  to  me  irresistible  proof  of 
David's  grace,  and  it  is  a  specimen  and  instance  of  that  true 
Christian  sorrow  which  is  pronounced  by  the  Saviour  blessed. 

The  sorrow  that  is  truly  blessed,  and  pronounced  so  by  our 
blessed  Master,  is  that  which  not  only  is  felt  as  a  passion,  or 
has  power  as  a  principle,  but  which  also  shows  itself  long 
after  in  the  tone,  the  temper,  and  the  conduct  of  the  whole 
man.     When  Pharaoh  was  under  the  judgments  of  God,  we 


SORROW    SWEETENED.  63 

are  told  that  lie  owned  and  regretted  his  sin ;  but,  as  soon  as 
the  judgments  passed  away,  he  returned  to  his  wickedness 
again.  Saul  persecuted  David,  and  deplored  what  he  had 
done  ;  but,  when  there  was  no  more  sign  of  judgment,  he  com- 
menced his  sanguinary  persecution  again.  But  we  read  that 
when  Job  sorrowed  over  his  sins,  he  said,  "  I  have  done  in- 
iquity, and  I  will  do  so  no  more."  The  sorrow  that  not  only 
acknowledged  bitterly  the  iniquity  that  was  perpetrated,  but 
was  able  to  add,  "  I  will  do  so  no  more,"  was  a  sorrow  of  a 
godly  sort, — was  a  sorrow  that  the  apostle  describes  when  he 
says,  "  Godly  sorrow  worketh  repentance  to  salvation  not  to 
be  repented  of;  but  the  sorrow  of  the  world  worketh  death. 
For  behold  this  self-same  thing,  that  ye  sorrowed  after  a  godly 
sort,  what  carefulness  it  wrought  in  you,  yea,  what  clearing 
of  yourselves,  yea,  what  indignation,  yea,  what  fear,  yea, 
what  vehement  desire,  yea,  what  zeal,  yea,  what  revenge ! 
In  all  things  ye  have  approved  yourselves  to  be  clear  in  this 
matter."  (2  Cor.  7  :  10,  11.)  Here  is  the  sorrow  that  is 
the  inspiration  of  grace,  and  on  whose  brow  there  is  writ  the 
benediction  that  cannot  be  effaced,  "  Blessed  are  they  that 
mourn :  for  they  shall  be  comforted." 

The  sorrow  that  is  blessed  arises  from  sin  seen  in  the  light 
of  Christ's  countenance.  Sin  seen  in  the  flash  and  splendor 
of  Sinai  will  make  us  perceive  and  feel  that  it  is  an  awful 
and  a  perilous  thing ;  but,  seen  in  the  light  of  that  coun- 
tenance that  looked  in  agony  from  the  cross,  it  will  make 
us  feel  it  poignantly,  and  as  a  bitter  thing.  Hence  it  is 
stated,  as  strikingly  illustrating  the  sentiment  before  us, 
"  They  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have  pierced,  and 
they  shall  mourn."  Again,  it  is  said,  "  Christ  is  exalted  a 
Prince  and  a  Saviour,  to  give  repentance,"  that  is,  godly 
sorrow,  "  and  remission  of  sins."  A  sorrow  that  drives  us 
from  Christ,  or  that  is  not  begun  by  seeing  Christ,  will  not 
be  blessed. 


64  SORROW   SWEETENED. 

Godly  sorrow  will  bring  us  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  ask 
him  to  bless,  to  sanctify,  to  sweeten,  and,  if  needs  be,  to  heal 
it.  A  very  touching  illustration  of  this  is  given  in  the  Gospel 
of  St.  Matthew,  where  we  read  that  when  Herod  sent  and 
beheaded  John  in  prison,  "  the  disciples  took  up  the  body  of  . 
John,  and  buried  it,  and  went  and  told  Jesus."  How  express- 
ive is  that !  They  did  the  duty  of  the  hour ;  they  felt  the 
deep  sorrow  that  originated  in  their  sense  of  their  loss ;  but 
they  did  not  let  that  sorrow  corrode  their  hearts  without  com- 
fort :  they  went  and  told  Jesus.  So  the  sisters  acted  in  the 
case  of  Lazarus  at  Bethany.  After  he  was  ill,  and  they  had 
tried  the  prescriptions  of  human  skill,  it  is  said,  "  They  went 
to  Jesus  and  said.  He  whom  thou  lovest  is  sick."  Hezekiah 
Bays  (Isa.  38 :  14),  '•'  0  Lord,  I  am  oppressed  :  undertake 
for  me  ! "  Now,  that  sorrow  for  sin  that  drives  to  despair  is 
from  beneath  ;  but  that  sorrow  for  sin  that  lays  us  at  the  feet 
of  Jesus  is  an  inspiration  from  above.  As  long  as  the  heart 
beats,  and  the  sun  shines,  and  the  day  of  grace  lasts,  there  is 
no  sorrow  that  should  drive  us  from  Christ.  It  is  nearer  to 
go  to  Jesus  than  to  go  away  from  him.  We  are  surer  of 
relief  by  bringing  it  to  him  than  by  taking  it  away  from  him. 
It  is  a  proof  of  a  sanctified  sorrow,  whether  that  sorrow  be  a 
principle  or  a  passion,  that  it  brings  us  to  Christ,  that  it  may 
be  stanched  by  him,  that  the  sin,  its  seed,  may  be  pardoned, 
and  that  the  affliction  may  be  sweetened. 

The  sorrow  that  is  blessed  is  sorrow  because  of  the  sins  that 
we  see  around  us  in  the  world  of  mankind.  There  is  a  sorrow, 
not  only  for  our  own  sins,  but  for  the  sins  of  others.  Jere- 
miah, when  he  looked  around  him,  said  (9 :  1),  "  0,  that  my 
head  were  waters,  and  mine  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  I 
might  weep  day  and  night  for  the  slain  of  the  daughter  of  my 
people  ;  "  and  David  said  (Psa.  119  :  136),  "  Rivers  of  water 
run  down  mine  eyes,  because  they,"  that  is,  the  world,  "  keep 
not  thy  law."     No  man  can  come  to  the  sanctuary  without 


SORROW   SWEETENEI/.  65 

seeing  what  must  grieve  him,  and  give  him  pain,  and  be  to 
him  a  matter  of  deep  and  bitter  regret  that  it  should  be  so. 
No  Christian  can  read  the  calendars  of  courts  of  justice,  or  tho 
records  of  our  prisons,  penitentiaries  and  bridewells,  without 
poignant  sorrow.  No  one  can  hear  of  the  awful  slaughter  of 
battle-fields,  and  sacked  villages,  and  blazing  homesteads,  or 
of  all  the  ills  and  aches  that  flesh  is  heir  to,  without  deep  sor- 
row. If  we  be  human,  we  must  be  sorry.  If  we  be  Chris- 
tians, we  must  in  bitterness  of  heart  mourn  over  alike  the  sin 
and  suffering.  The  apostle  Paul,  who  had  so  much  the  spirit 
of  his  blessed  Master,  when  he  visited  Athens,  if  he  had  been 
a  mere  philosopher,  would  have  been  so  charmed  with  the 
Parthenon,  and  the  other  monuments  of  that  most  magnificent 
city,  that  he  would  have  written  poetry,  or  pronounced  an 
oration  upon  it ;  but  we  read  that  when  there  he  had  no  eye 
for  its  statuary,  no  time  to  listen  to  its  philosophers  in  the 
Academus,  or  on  the  banks  of  the  Ilissus,  —  not  that  he  had 
no  taste,  not  that  he  was  not  a  scholar,  not  that  he  had  no 
aesthetic  susceptibilities,  as  they  are  called,  —  but  that  he  had 
a  heart  so  charged  with  the  grace  of  God,  and  with  sympathy 
and  sorrow  for  man's  ruin,  that  he  saw  nothing  but  a  city 
wholly  given  to  idolatry.  Read  that  one  visit  of  Paul  to 
Athens,  and  you  will  see  how  deeply  he  had  drank  in  the 
spirit  of  his  Master,  and  what  sorrow  that  is  on  which  the 
benediction  is  pronounced,  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn  :  for 
they  shall  be  comforted." 

If  we  could  only  see  all  nature  as  it  is,  and  if  we  had  only 
a  recollection  of  what  it  once  was,  or  a  deep  prophetic  pre- 
sentiment of  what  it  one  day  will  be,  our  groans  would  mingle 
with  creation's;  for  it  groans  and  travails  in  pain,  seeking  de- 
liverance, waiting  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God. 
There  is  much  outside  the  Christian  to  make  him  shed  tears, 
only  there  is  a  bright  sunshine  within  that  makes  him  rejoice 
when  all  in  the  world  is  dark.  A  Christian,  when  he  looks 
6^ 


66  SORROW   SWEETENED 

around  him,  must  be  sad ;  when  he  looks  within  him,  he 
cannot  but  see  elements  of  sorrow ;  but  when  he  looks  above 
him,  and  learns  what  his  destiny  is,  and  what  the  price  of 
it  was,  he  must  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of 
glory. 

But  the  sorrow  of  a  Christian,  which  is  thus  blessed,  is  felt 
not  only  because  of  the  sins  of  the  world,  but  because  of  the 
sins  of  the  church  itself.  It  is  not  the  world  that  has  a  dis- 
astrous monopoly  of  sin ;  alas  !  there  is  plenty  of  it  in  the 
professing  church  also.  When  a  Christian  sees  the  inconsist- 
ency of  A,  the  indiscretion  of  B,  the  fall  of  C,  the  sin  of  D, 
and  throughout  the  whole  church  professors  smiting  Christ  in 
the  house  of  his  friends,  and  bringing  discredit  on  the  profes- 
sion that  they  bear,  he  must  grieve,  and  long  and  yearn  for 
that  blessed  day,  when  they  shall  be  all  righteous,  and  when 
there  shall  be  nothing  to  detract  from  the  perfection,  or  to 
dim  the  splendor,  of  that  bright  and  blessed  time,  in  which 
the  whole  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  glory  of  God,  and  all 
shall  know  him,  even  as  they  are  known. 

Another  spring  of  sorrow  to  a  Christian  must  be  the  little 
progress  that  Christianity  has  made  in  the  world.  When  we 
count  the  population  of  the  world,  we  are  struck  with  the 
awful  and  appalling  fact,  that  scarcely  a  twentieth  of  it  seems 
to  profess  anything  like  pure  Christianity  ;  and  we  cannot  but 
blame  ourselves  that  we  have  not  only  done  what  we  ought 
not  to  have  done,  but  have  left  undone  much  that  we  ought  to 
have  done,  in  the  matter  of  missionary  exertion.  When  we 
see  millions  of  Hindoos  deeply  demoralized,  without  God, 
without  Christ,  without  hope,  —  millions  of  Chinese,  though 
here  the  horizon  brightens,  sunk  in  the  depths  of  the  most 
wretched  superstition,  —  millions  of  Bomish  idolaters,  with 
more  light,  but  scarcely  more  grace,  than  they,  —  and  when 
we  add  to  these  millions  of  Protestants,  who  have  but  the 
name,  and  nothing  more, — we  are  not  only  brought  back  to  the 


SORRO^^■   SWEETENED.  67 

old  belief,  that  Christ's  true  church  is  a  much  smaller  thing 
than  we  sometimes  in  our  latitudinarianism  suppose  ;  but  we 
must  also  grieve  and  lament  that  so  few  are  brought  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  an3,  still  more,  that  we  have  done  so 
little  towards  the  spread  of  that  Gospel  which  is  the  savor  of 
life  unto  all  them  that  truly  know  it. 

We  must  often  feel  sorrowful  —  and  it  is  a  stream  of  that 
sorrow  that  is  pronounced  blessed  —  that  we  are  able  to  do  so 
little.  Our  possibilities  of  good  are  not  equal  to  our  wishes. 
We  would  that  we  had  wealth  equal  to  the  requirements  of 
the  day  that  passes ;  but,  perhaps,  if  we  had  it,  we  should  not 
have  a  heart  to  give  it.  We  should  rather  pray  that  we  may 
have  grace  to  give  as  God  may  bless  us.  At  all  events,  when 
we  look  around  us,  and  see  so  much  to  be  done,  and  so  little 
done,  and  feel  how  little  we  can  do,  even  when  we  do  our  all, 
we  must  grieve  and  lament. 

There  is  another  sorrow  that  is  blessed,  —  the  sorrow  that 
makes  one  sometimes  long  to  be  absent  from  the  body,  and 
present  with  the  Lord.  And  yet  that  is  a  sorrow  that  needs 
to  be  defined  :  it  may  be  in  excess.  It  is  natural  that  we 
should  wish  to  be  in  a  happier  state  ;  it  is  Christian  that  we 
should  wish  to  see  *an  end  of  all  that  grieves,  irritates  and 
vexes,  here ;  but  I  question  if  it  be  Christian  to  wish  to  die ; 
I  doubt  if  it  be  right  to  wish  to  leave  the  world.  We  are 
here  as  soldiers,  each  placed  by  the  Great  Commander  at  his 
post ;  and,  whenever  our  watch  is  finished,  we  may  be  sure 
that  he  will  call  us  home  :  our  duty  is  to  remain  where  we 
are  until  he  in  his  providence  call  to  us,  "  Come  up  hither ;  " 
and  then  we  shall  no  more  grieve  or  lament,  for  our  earthly 
sorrow  shall  be  turned  into  celestial  joy. 

They  who  thus  sorrow  "  shall  be  comforted."  I  may  ob- 
serve, in  explanation  of  this,  that  there  is  a  comfort  in  such 
sorrow,  as  well  as  beyond  it.  Is  it  not  true  that  we  have  had 
weeping  moments   that   have  been  our  happiest  on  earth  ? 


68  SORROW   SWEETENED. 

There  is  such  a  thing,  it  may  be,  in  heaven,  as  tears  from 
excess  of  joy,  and  thus  tears  may  be  incidental  there ;  but 
this  is,  perhaps,  imagination  ;  for,  we  read,  the  fountains  and 
springs  of  tears  shall  be  dried  up.* 

There  are  times  in  this  life  when  our  saddest  moments  have 
been  our  sweetest ;  when  in  life's  bitterest  cup  we  have  found 
a  sweetness  that  has  made  us  count  our  light  affliction,  which 
is  but  for  a  moment,  not  worthy  to  be  compared,  not  only 
with  the  glory  that  is  to  be  revealed,  but  with  the  glory  that 
we  see.  It  is  this  phasis  of  Christian  experience  that  explains 
the  remark  of  the  apostle,  "  sorrowing,  and  yet  always  rejoic- 
ing ;  "  and  again  he  says,  "  in  much  affliction  ye  took  joy- 
fully," as  if  joy  and  sorrow  could  be  mixed  together.  Such 
interchange  is  the  Christian's  life  ;  it  is  like  the  April  day  — 
sunshine  and  shower,  smiles  and  tears  blended  into  one,  make 
up  the  day-life  of  every  true  Christian.  Eve,  however,  when 
she  wept,  wept  with  her  back  upon  Eden,  and  her  face  to  the 
desert ;  but  let  us  rejoice,  that  when  we  weep  it  is  with  our 
backs  to  the  desert,  and  our  faces  towards  a  better  Eden,  to 
which  we  are  rapidly  hastening. 

Such  sorrow  is  blessed  in  its  endurance,  for  God  specially 
manifests  himself  to  such  :  "  I  will  allure  "her  into  the  wilder- 
ness, and  I  will  speak  comfort  to  her."  It  was  when  Jerusa- 
lem was  weeping  in  the  dust  that  God  commissioned  the 
prophet  to  proclaim  these  thrilling  and  reviving  words,  "Com- 
fort ye,  comfort  ye,  my  people,  saith  your  God." 

And,  if  there  be  comfort  in  such  sorrow,  there  is  also  com- 
fort at  the  close  of  it :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn  :  for 
they  shall  be  comforted."  It  is  divine  comfort,  for  God  will 
bestow  it :  "I  will  wipe  away  all  tears  from  all  eyes."  It  is 
complete  comfort,  for  they  shall  be  perfectly  and  truly  com- 
forted :  "  there  shall  be  no  more  tears,  nor  sorrow,  nor  cry- 
ing ;  "  it  will  be  comfort  without  alloy.  Here  the  fairest  robe 
has  a  moth  in  it,  the  stateliest  cedar  has  a  worm  in  it,  the 


SORROW   SWEETENED.  69 

purest  gold  tliat  ^Australia's  and  California's  mines  can  yield 
has  decay  and  rust  and  tarnish  upon  it ;  but  in  that  land 
there  is  no  alloy ;  there  are  "  no  more  tears,  nor  sorrow,  nor 
crying,  for  all  former  things  are  passed  away."  And,  when 
we  think  of  this,  we  must  feel  that  our  light  affliction  is  not 
worthy  to  be  compared  with  it,  and  that  while  "  no  tribulation 
for  the  present  seemeth  joyous,  it  afterwards  worketh  out  the 
peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness  to  them  that  are  exercised 
thereby." 

Reader,  if  you  wish  to  know  what  the^  comfort  is,  not  in  the 
words  that  m.an's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  in  the  words  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  teacheth,  I  would  give  it  you  in  words  so  poetical, 
so  rich  in  thought,  so  suggestive  of  happiness,  that  the  heart 
which  has  not  a  chord  responding  to  them  has  never  felt  what 
this  divine  sorrow  is,  and  gives  no  token  now  that  it  will  ever 
feel  what  that  rich  consolation  will  be  :  —  "  And  there  shall 
be  no  more  curse :  but  the  throne  of  God,  and  of  the  Lamb, 
shall  be  in  it ;  and  his  servants  shall  serve  him  :  and  there 
shall  be  no  night  there ;  and  they  need  no  candle,  neither 
light  of  the  sun ;  for  the  Lord  God  giveth  them  light :  and 
they  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever.  And  God  shall  wipe  away 
all  tears  from  their  eyes ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death, 
neither  sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more 
pain  :  for  the  former  things  are  passed  away.  And  the  na- 
tions of  them  which  are  saved  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  that 
city  :  and  the  kings  of  the  earth  do  bring  their  glory  and 
honor  into  it.  And  the  gates  of  it  shall  not  be  shut  at  all  by 
day  :  for  there  shall  be  no  night  there.  And  he  showed  me 
a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out 
of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb." 

Have  we  ever  known  what  the  sorrow  is  that  I  have  tried 
to  define  ?  It  is  they  that  mourn  that  shall  be  comforted  ;  it 
is  such  sorrow  that  shall  be  turned  into  joy. 


70  SORROW   SWEETENED. 

May  we  have  now  that  sorrow  which  the  sight  of  Christ 
can  suggest,  which  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  can  inspire,  and 
then  ours  will  be  that  rich  reward  which  is  in  reversion,  "  They 
shall  be  comforted."  Thus  we  shall  taste  the  blessed  life  in 
this  age,  and  share  in  its  joys  in  the  age  to  come. 


CHAPTEK    V. 

earth's  rightful  heirs. 

*'  There  are  in  this  loud,  stunning  tide 
Of  human  care  and  crime. 
With  whom  the  melodies  abide 
Of  the  everlasting  clime  ; 
Who  carry  music  in  their  heart 
Through  dusky  lane  and  wrangling  mart. 
Plying  their  daily  task  with  busier  feet. 

Because  their  secret  souls  a  holy  strain  repeat." 

"  Blessed  are  the  meek  :  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth." 

Matthew  5:5. 

The  grace  of  "  poor  in  spirit,"  whose  possessors  are  pro- 
nounced blessed,  is  not,  certainly,  popular,  or  universally 
admired.  It  wants  the  bulk,  the  glare  and  pretension,  that 
constitute  the  greatest  charm  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  that  is 
unable  to  distinguish  tinsel  from  the  pure  and  sterling  gold. 
It  is  that  grace  implanted  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  which 
restrains  impetuous  passion,  modifies,  governs  and  directs, 
those  feelings  that  are  legitimate  and  proper.  It  is  not  insens- 
ibility, nor  management,  nor  policy ;  but  the  grace  of  God. 
Many  men  are  cool,  who  are  so  from  temperament ;  many  are 
self-possessed,  but  it  is  from  policy ;  many  seem  dispassionate, 
who  are  so  from  management ;  but  that  meekness  which  re- 
strains, and  sanctifies  while  it  restrains,  is  neither  policy,  nor 
management,  nor  practice,  nor  diplomacy ;  it  is  the  inspira- 
tion and  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


72  earth's  rightful  heirs. 

Jesus,  who  pronounced  a  benediction  upon  the  meek,  said 
also,  "  Come  unto  me,  and  learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek  and 
lowly  of  heart."  Let  any  one  read  the  character  of  Jesus, 
and  see  how  it  contrasts  with  his  own.  He  not  only  spoke 
with  authority ;  but  he  lived  with  a  purity,  a  sublimity,  a 
grandeur,  an  almost  absolute  contrast,  certainly  inj&nite  supe- 
riority, to  anything  exhibited  by  the  purest  and  the  best  of 
manl^nd  in  this  present  world.  When  the  unkind  treatment 
of  the  Samaritans  provoked  and  grieved  the  apostles,  John  and 
James  desired  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  them ;  but  Jesus 
said,  "  Ye  know  not  what  spirit  ye  are  of."  When*  the  rude 
band  of  soldiers  laid  hold  upon  him  violently,  Peter  drew  his 
sword,  and  smote  one  that  was  present ;  but  Jesus,  the  per- 
sonation of  perfect  meekness,  bade  him  put  his  sword  in  his 
scabbard ;  for  that  was  neither  the  meet  temper  of  a  Chris- 
tian, nor  the  sublime  duty  of  an  apostle.  When  the  oflSicer 
who  came  to  apprehend  Jesus  smote  him,  what  was  his  reply  ? 
Just  what  meekness  would  be  expected  to  give  utterance  to  : 
"  If  I  have  spoken  evil,  bear  witness  of  the  evil ;  but  if  well, 
why  smitest  thou  me  ?  "  Well  did  Rousseau,  the  sceptic,  say, 
that  if  Socrates  lived  and  died  like  a  man,.  Jesus  lived  and 
died  like  a  God.  A  prophet  put  into  the  mouth  of  Jesus 
these  words :  "  Is  there  any  sorrow  like  my  sorrow  ?  "  and  we 
may  say  of  him,  with  equal  truth,  "  Is  there  any  meekness 
that  can  be  compared  to  his  ? "  He,  therefore,  who  said 
"  Blessed  are  the  meek,"  exemplified  in  his  character,  his  walk 
and  conduct,  the  most  beautiful  and  persistent  meekness  that 
ever  shone  on  earth,  or  was  developed  in  man. 

While  we  thus  see  the  model  of  what  meekness  is,  we  must 
take  care  not  to  confound  it  with  apathy,  indiflference,  or  dead- 
ness  to  the  sins  of  man,  or  to  the  claims  of  God.  Many 
natural  men,  who  are  apathetic,  get  credit  for  meekness  ;  while 
many  Christian  men,  who  have  strong  and  impetuous  tempers, 
incur   discredit   for  this   supposed  want  of  meekness.     The 


earth's  kightful  heirs.  73 

indignation  purely  manifested  against  sin  is  perfectly  compat- 
ible with  the  greatest  meekness  in  the  sight  of  Grod.  Thus, 
Paul  says  of  genuine  repentance,  "  What  revenge  it  wrought !  " 
Moses  was  the  meekest  of  men ;  but,  when  he  saw  the  idolatry 
of  his  people,  he  burst  into  expressions  of  the  deepest  and 
most  poignant  indignation.  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  the 
meekest  servants  of  the  Saviour ;  and  yet,  when  the  priests 
came  to  sacrifice  oxen  to  them,  as  if  they  were  gods,  they 
expressed  themselves  in  the  language  of  stern  rebuke,  and 
exclaimed  against  the  sacrifice  as  an  offence  against  God. 
Eli's  meekness  degenerated  into  connivance  at  sin  ;  but  Jesus, 
when  he  came  into  the  temple,  —  he  who  was  meek  and  lowly, 
he  who  pronounced  a  benediction  upon  the  meek,  —  showed  • 
such  zeal,  that  he  swept  out  the  money-changers,  and  th-eni 
that  sold  doves ;  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  that  was  written, 
"  The  zeal  of  my  Father's  house  hath  eaten  me  up."  We 
thus  see  that  meekness  of  spirit  is  perfectly  compatible  with 
zeal  and  energy  of  character.  Paul,  who  calls  himself  gentle 
as  a  nurse,  yet  appealed  to  Caesar  when  his  civil  rights  were 
assailed,  and  could  speak  in  the  language  of  rebuke  even  to 
Peter,  when  Peter  dissembled  in  the  sight  of  God.  Chris- 
tians display  the  greatest  meekness  when  they  are  silent  and 
patient  under  injuries  inflicted  on  themselves  ;  but  speak  forth 
with  all  the  eloquence  of  Christian  indignation  when  they 
behold  insult,  dishonor  and  reproach,  heaped  upon  their  blessed 
Master.  As  far  as  I  can  judge  from  the  instances  recorded 
in  Scripture,  the  meekness  of  a  Christian  is  exemplified  in 
silence  when  he  himself  is  the  victim  of  the  wrong-doer ;  but 
that  meekness  is  perfectly  compatible  with  the  outbursts  of  a 
righteous  and  fervent  indignation,  when  anything  is  done  that 
calumniates  the  character  or  interferes  with  the  cause  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  ,  Our  indignation,  if  we  would  retain 
the  character  of  meekness,  must  be  at  sin  as  against  God,  not 
suffering  as  inflicted  on  ourselves.  We  are  called  upon  to 
7 


74  earth's  rightful  heirs. 

love  as  brethren,  to  be  j3itiful,  to  be  courteous,  to  show  meek- 
ness towards  all  men,  and  yet  not  to  suffer  sin  upon  a  brother^, 
but  to  be  zealous  in  the  right  cause,  on  the  right  occasion,  and 
for  a  right  and  holy  object.  We  must  not  suppose  that  the 
object  and  end  of  meekness  is  to  root  out  anger.  Anger  is 
not  sinful.  There  is  no  more  sin  in  being  angry  than  there  is 
in  being  hungry.  God  implanted  the  passion  in  the  human 
heart ;  its  restraint  and  regulation  is  a  Christian  duty  ;  its 
extirpation  would  be  as  foolish  as  to  cut  off  literally  the  right 
hand,  or  pluck  out  literally  the  right  eye.  AVe  are  called 
upon  to  be  meek  while  we  are  angry,  not  to  let  the  sun  go 
down  upon  our  wrath,  to  be  angry  with  the  sin  rather  than 
with  the  sinner,  according  to  that  trait  in  our  blessed  Lord's 
character,  which  is  thus  referred  to  :  "  He  was  angry ;  "  then 
anger  cannot  be  sinful ;  but  it  is  added,  "  being  grieved  at 
the  hardness  of  their  hearts."  In  other  words,  the  anger  of 
Jesus  was  less  at  the  men,  and  more  at  the  sin  of  which  these 
men  were  the  victims.  And  so  our  anger  should  be  on  right 
occasions,  and  for  true  and  sanctified  ends.  The  anger,  for 
instance,  of  the  Roman  emperor  was  sinful.  He  was  enraged, 
and  burst  into  furious  passion,  because  the  heavens  thundered 
while  he  was  at  his  dinner.  Cyrus  was  angry  because  the  flood 
carried  away  a  favorite  and  a  beautiful  charger.  This  is  the 
nearest  approach  to  blasphemy.  But  Jesus  was  angry,  not  at 
the  poor  sinner,  —  for  him  he  pitied,  —  but  when  he  thought 
what  the  poor  sinner  had  been  made  by  Satan,  —  the  victim 
of  a  hard  and  a  depraved  heart. 

To  show  where  meekness  may  be  exemplified,  let  me  say 
that  in  all  cases,  personal,  social,  domestic,  national,  where 
a  quarrel  is  provoked  by  the  injustice  of  one,  and  is  felt  by 
the  susceptible  nature  of  another,  there  is  the  time  and  place 
for  the  exercise  and  development  of  the  Christian  grace  of 
meekness.  If,  for  instance,  we  are  privately  assailed  in  our 
name,  our  person  or  our  home,  retaliation  is  the  last  thing  a 


earth's  rightful  heirs.  75 

Christian  should  contemplate,  as  it  is  the  worst  thing  a  man 
can  have  recourse  to.  The  world,  when  assailed,  retaliates,  and 
the  duel  —  the  maddest,  the  most  foolish,  the  most  Quixotic, 
of  all  ancient  and  modern  absurdities,  —  has  been  too  long 
the  fashionable  resort.  It  is  now  almost  universally  exploded 
in  practice,  except  among  fools,  as  it  is  universally  reprobated 
in  its  principle  by  Christians.  If,  therefore,  privately  wronged, 
private  and  personal  revenge  is  never  to  be  desired,  still  less 
to  be  attempted,  if  a  public  vindication  be  possible,  or  a  judge 
who  judgeth  righteously  in  the  land  can  be  accessible. 

In  the  second  place,  if  it  relates  to  invasion  of  our  property, 
retaliation  then  and  there,  if  not  prevented,  must  be  mightily 
modified  by  the  grace  of  meekness  in  a  Christian's  heart. 
Far  better  lose  a  pound  than  lose  one's  temper.  Far  better 
be  content  to  sutFer  a  great  deal,  than  to  inflict  upon  one's  self 
the  almost  suicidal  suffering  of  retaliation,  hatred,  and  re- 
venge. Better  give  the  demand  with  both  hands,  than  allow 
resistance  to  the  demand  to  kindle  in  the  human  heart  those 
feelings  or  passions,  —  revenge,  retaliation  and  hate,  —  which 
corrode  the  subject  of  them  far  more  than  they  do  injury  to 
the  person  who  deserves  to  be  punished.  In  case  of  an  attack 
upon  life,  I  think  it  is  perfectly  compatible  with  Christian 
meekness  to  repel  it ;  and  if,  in  repelling  an  attack  which 
menaces  your  own  life,  the  life  of  the  aggressor  should  be  sa- 
crificed, it  is  not  inconsistent  with  meekness  on  your  part,  and 
it  never  can  be  registered  as  murder  or  a  crime  before  God. 
It  is  not  incompatible  with  Christian  meekness  to  defend  life, 
as  that  which  is  dearest,  even  if  the  defence  involves  the  peril 
or  the  destruction  of  the  life  of  the  guilty  aggressor. 

So,  in  the  same  manner,  in  the  case  of  an  invasion  of  our 
native  land,  I  am  sure  it  would  not  be  meekness,  but  madness, 
in  our  government,  to  fold  their  hands,  and  sit  still,  and  allow 
our  homes  to  be  burnt,  our  temples  to  be  razed,  our  country 
to  be  laid  waste.     I  cannot  see  that  Christianity  justifies  this  •, 


76  earth's  rightful  heirs. 

I  cannot  find  that  the  meekness  of  the  Gospel  demands  such 
quiescent  apathy  or  indifference.  It  seems  to  me,  on  the 
contrary,  perfectly  compatible  with  that  meekness  on  which 
a  benediction  is  pronounced,  to  repel  the  violent  aggressor  by 
all  the  means  that  are  placed  in  our  power,  in  the  providence 
of  God ;  for  next  to  life  our  national  mercies  should  be 
valued ;  and  if  the  aggressor  suffers  in  the  repulse,  his,  not 
ours,  is  the  guilt,  with  all  the  consequences.  At  the  same  time, 
wherever  the  spirit  of  Christian  meekness  is,  this  retaliation, 
where  retaliation  is  inevitable,  or,  rather,  this  defence,  where 
forbearance  would  be  treachery,  cowardice  and  cruelty,  will 
be  modified,  softened  and  subdued,  as  much  as  possible.  It 
is  by  the  indirect  influence  of  Christianity  that  modern  war- 
fare has  been  shorn  of  half  the  horrors  that  it  had  in  ancient 
days.  In  savage  lands  and  pagan  times,  the  conqueror 
became  the  destroyer  of  the  vanquished.  In  modern  times, 
the  object  to  be  attained  is  the  defence  of  the  land  that  we 
love;  and  when  that  object  has  been  attained,  the  victor  feels 
that  his  mission  and  his  duty  are  completed,  and  to  the  van- 
quished  he  shows  the  meekness,  charity  and  forbearance,  that 
become  those  who  know  the  more  excellent  way.  At  the 
same  time,  we  ought  also  to  add,  that  war,  and  such  defence, 
are  not  in  themselves  desirable ;  they  are  not  beautiful ;  they 
are  necessitated  by  the  effects  of  sin;  they  are  simply  tolerated 
under  the  Gospel  of  Jesus.  Hence,  we  read  that  when  God 
would  have  a  glorious  temple  built  for  himself,  he  employed, 
not  David,  the  soldier,  to  do  it,  but  his  son,  Solomon,  the  peace- 
ful king.  It  is  in  peace  that  nations  prosper ;  it  is  in  war  that 
they  retrograde,  and  go  back.  The  greatest  calamity  a  nation 
can  come  under  is  war ;  the  greatest  mercy  a  nation  can  be 
thankful  for  is,  that  it  lives  and  breathes  and  prospers 
beneath  the  overshadowing  pinions  of  a  perpetual  and  uni- 
versal peace. 

Christian  meekness  was   scarcely  known  in   the  heathen 


earth's  rightful  heirs.  77 

schools;  but  in  the  Gospel,  in  the  parables,  in  the  precepts,  in 
the  sanctions,  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  it  is  repeatedly  and 
most  eloquently  enforced.  "  Walk  with  all  lowliness  and 
meekness."  Again,  "  Put  on  meekness  and  long-suffering." 
•'  Follow  after  meekness."  "  Showing  meekness  to  all  men." 
"  I  beseech  you  by  the  meekness  of  Christ."  "  The  Lord 
shall  beautify  the  meek  with  salvation."  "  He  is  come  to 
preach  glad  tidings  to  the  meek."  "  Receive  with  meekness 
the  engrafted  word;" — so  often  and  so  urgently  is  this 
grace  inculcated  upon  a  Christian  !  To  return  passion  for 
passion  is  the  instinct  of  resistance ;  to  return  good  for  good 
is  the  instinct  of  common  and  every-day  sympathy ;  but  to 
render  good  for  evil,  to  pray  for  them  that  persecute  you, 
and  to  bless  them  that  despitefully  use  you,  —  this  is  the  very 
noblest  instinct,  and  the  perfection  of  Christian  character. 
It  is  man's  way  to  exact  the  largest  penance,  and  to  give  but 
half  an  absolution  for  a  brother's  offences ;  it  is  Christ's  way 
to  bestow  frankly  the  complete  forgiveness,  and  to  ask  us  to 
exhibit  that  meek  and  quiet  spirit  which  is  of  inestimable 
price.  When  Peter  denied  his  blessed  Master,  what  did 
Jesus  do  ?  Did  he  break  forth  in  recrimination  and  reproach  ? 
Did  he  show  the  least  feeling  of  angry  or  impetuous  temper? 
The  record  is,  "He  looked  on  Peter;"  and  that  beautiful, 
holy,  and  gentle  look  shot  conviction  into  Peter's  heart,  so 
deep,  so  poignant,  that  he  went  forth,  we  are  told,  and  wept 
bitterly. 

This  meekness,  which  is  blessed  by  our  Lord,  personated 
in  his  example,  commended  so  frequently  by  the  apostles,  is 
opposed  to  anything  like  moroseness  of  temper.  A  person 
must  not  suppose  that  to  be  morose,  silent  and  sulky,  is  the 
same  as  being  meek.  A  morose  temper  sheds  around  it  a 
corrosive  influence ;  it  gives  pain  to  others,  and  it  takes  no 
pleasure  to  itself  Better  far  is  a  violent  spirit.  An  im- 
petuous and  hasty  temper  is  like  the  sudden  thunder-sbower, 
7# 


78  earth's  rightful  heirs. 

that  fills  the  channels  with  its  flood  and  is  soon  dried  up  ; 
but  the  morose  temper  is  the  stagnant  marsh  in  the  niid-day 
sun,  exhaling  poison  and  miasma  on  all  that  are  around  it. 
The  violent  passion  may  produce  a  fanatic ;  the  morose  tem- 
per is  the  secret  feeder  of  monks,  ascetics,  nuns,  suicides, 
convents,  and  monasteries.  Moroseness  unquestionably  is 
not  meekness. 

This  meekness  is  opposed  to  anything  like  a  spirit  of 
revenge.  This  spirit  seizes  and  misconstrues  every  act  tha-t 
a  brother  performs,  and  puts  the  worst  construction  on  the 
best  and  most  beneficent  designs.  Revenge  is  not  pride,  for 
it  can  afford  to  be  generous,  bad  as  it  is  ;  but  it  is  vanity, 
the  meanest  and  the  most  contemptible  of  all  passions ;  and 
wherever  this  vanity  and  revenge  are  nursed  and  cherished 
in  the  bosom  of  a  man,  there  a  careless  word  is  construed  to 
be  a  deliberate  insult,  an  accidental  movement  of  the  arm  is 
understood  to  be  a  designed  and  premeditated  stab.  It  pro- 
nounces meekness  good  enough  for  the  millennium,  but  im- 
practicable in  this  world.  Notwithstanding,  "  Blessed  are  the 
meek  :  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth." 

This  spirit  of  meekness,  too,  is  not  to  be  confounded  with, 
.as  indeed  it  is  altogther  opposed  to,  a  spirit  of  endless  dis- 
contentment. There  are  people  who  constantly  whine,  ever- 
more complain,  and  who  seem  to  think  happiness  a  sin,  and 
misery  the  very  perfection  of  meekness.  If  they  go  forth 
into  the  fields  of  nature,  they  would  rather  look  upon  dead 
leaves  than  gather  beautiful  flowers.  They  would  rather  hear 
all  that  is  melancholy  in  the  voices  of  nature,  than  aught 
that  is  sweet  and  musical  to  the  listening  ear.  They  see  no 
beauty  in  the  height,  or  in  the  depth  ;  they  hear  no  music  in 
^ny  sound ;  and  they  can  detect  or  taste  a  blessing  nowhere. 
They  see  misery  where  it  is  not,  and  they  exaggerate  it  where 
it  exists.  This  is  not  meekness,  this  is  not  the  grace  on  which 
a  blessing  is  pronounced  here  ;  it  is  an  unholy,  a  rebellious, 


earth's  rightful  heirs.  79 

an  unj&lial  discontent.  Meekness  suffers,  and  is  silent ;  it 
endures,  and  is  patient ;  it  labors  to  be  happy,  it  is  always 
thankful,  and  evermore  sings  its  own  sweet  under-song ;  it  will 
not  tell  bad  tidings,  if  it  can  possibly  tell  good  ones ;  it  will 
not  state  what  is  evil,  unless  it  be  essentially  necessary  ;  it 
would  endure  the  greatest  agony,  rather  than  inflict  the  least 
and  most  causeless  pain.  Meekness  endures  any  wrong  from 
man ;  patience  endures  any  affliction  from  God :  both  are 
gems  in  the  Christian's  diadem,  —  bright,  beautiful,  and 
holy  graces  in  the  Christian's  heart. 

We  are  answerable  for  having  this  grace.  A  man  may 
say,  How  can  I  call  or  conjure  into  my  heart  that  which  is 
not  in  it  ?  I  am  master  of  outward  acts ;  but,  he  says,  I  am 
not  master  of  inward  emotions.  I  answer,  our  inward  feel- 
ings can  be  controlled  to  a  very  great  extent,  and  some  graces 
may  be  so  far  cultivated  apparently  without  the  aid  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  This  truly  rebukes  and  condemns  those  who, 
knowing  where  strength  is,  seek  not  that  strength,  and  exhibit 
none  of  the  grace  it  is  fitted  to  impart.  Much  that  is  called 
courtesy  in  the  world  is  not  the  extinction  of  a  bad  temper, 
but  its  suppression.  To  gain  one's  end,  one  can  conceal  much 
that  one  feels,  cover  much  that  one  is,  and  repress  and  sup- 
press emotions  that  burn  and  thirst  for  expression.  Many 
of  us  know  quite  well  that  often  in  the  house  of  business  one 
would  say  the  most  severe,  sarcastic,  and  bitter  things,  if  it 
were  not  that  it  would  be  inexpedient,  or  productive  of  injury 
or  loss.  If,  then,  men  by  management  can  do  this,  surely  a 
Christian  by  grace  is  competent  to  do  more.  Did  the  reader 
ever  see  a  member  of  Parliament  canvassing  his  constituents 
for  their  votes  ?  What  submission  !  How  meekly  he  takes 
reproach  !  How  interested  he  seems  in  the  welfare  of  the 
children !  What  affectionate  esteem  he  feels  for  the  mother  ! 
How  he  admires  little  things  he  never  saw  before,  and  lauda 
hidden  excellences  that  no  eye  sees  but  a  candidate's '.     How 


80  earth's  rightful  heirs. 

mucli  he  puts  up  with  here  that  in  other  circumstances  he 
would  sternly  rebuke ;  and  how  he  stifles  there  the  indigna- 
tion that  boils  within  him,  and  thirsts  and  longs  for  expression, 
just  because  he  makes  all  things  subserve  the  end  he  has  in 
view, —  the  votes  of  the  constituency,  a  seat  in  the  House 
of  Commons!  If  a  candidate  for  earthly  dignity  can  do 
this,  surely  a  candidate  for  a  crown  of  glory,  by  grace,  can 
do  much  more.  If  policy  has  this  power  to  adorn  the  outer 
man,  principle  surely  has  yet  greater  power  to  sanctify  and 
change  the  inner  man. 

We  are  surely  answerable  for  a  grace  that  the  world  can 
put  on,  and  that  a  Christian  may  have  imparted.  "  If  ye, 
being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children, 
how  much  more  will  your  heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy 
Spirit  unto  them  that  ask  him  ?  " 

But  whilst  man  may  thus  do  much  to  correct  outwardly 
what  is  wrong,  he  never  can  succeed  in  implanting  what  is 
right,  except  in  that  way  and  through  those  means  that  are 
prescribed  by  the  Spirit  of  Grod.  In  the  Homish  church, 
fasting  is  proposed  as  one  of  the  best  prescriptions  for  sub- 
duing the  heart,  and  rendering  meek,  gentle  and  lowly,  the 
victim  of  proud  and  impetuous  passions ;  but  it  is  one  of  the 
most  singular  facts  in  the  history  of  mankind,  that  the  men 
who  have  been  the  severest  anchorites,  the  greatest  fasters, 
and  who  have  denied  themselves  much  that  was  necessary,  as 
well  as  all  that  was  delightful,  have  been  men  of  the  very 
sourest  and  worst  of  tempers,  and  have  proved  themselves 
the  remotest  in  their  nature  from  the  meekness  on  which  the 
benediction  is  pronounced.  The  Mahometans,  during  their 
fast  Khamadan,  when  they  deny  their  appetites  their  accus- 
tomed food,  lose  their  tempers  apparently  altogether.  The 
Hindoos,  during  their  seasons  of  fasting,  are  unusually  pas- 
sionate and  violent.  Jerome,  the  Latin  father,  who  bitterly 
rebuked   Vigilantius,  a  Protestant  of  the   fourth   century, 


earth's  rightful  heirs.  81 

because  Yigilantius  said  that  it  was  not  the  stomach  that  was 
to  be  punished,  but  the  heart  that  was  to  be  sanctified,  which 
was  the  true  fasting,  was  a  furious  faster.  He  went  into  a 
desert  to  live  what  he  called  a  spotless  life,  consisting  in 
mortification,  in  wearing  hair-clothing  and  chains,  and  having 
nettles  and  thorns  for  his  bed  and  on  his  pillow.  In  these 
circumstances  he  was  a  man  of  the  most  sour  and  impetuous 
temper ;  and  the  very  language  in  which  he  rebukes  his 
adversary  is  evidence  that  fasting,  instead  of  improving, 
seems  to  have  corroded  the  temper  of  the  unhappy  monk. 
Policy  will  not  give  meekness,  it  may  give  the  appearance 
of  it ;  fasting  will  not  create  it,  for,  in  fact,  it  has  originated 
the  very  reverse ;  it  is,  first,  the  study  of  God's  holy  word. 
It  is  a  light  to  our  feet ;  it  is  a  gallery  of  portraits ;  it  con- 
tains models  of  meekness  that  we  do  well  to  imitate.  It 
states  the  meekness  of  Moses,  whose  single,  unadvised  expres- 
sion was  an  interdict  to  his  entrance  into  the  promised  land. 
It  tells  us  of  the  meekness  of  David,  who  had  Saul  in  his 
power,  but  yet  did  not  touch  him ;  and  of  Hezekiah,  who, 
instead  of  retaliating  on  Kabshakeh,  took  the  epistle  and 
laid  it  meekly  before  the  Lord  ;  and, ''  seeing  that  we  are  sur- 
rounded by  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  lay  aside 
every  weight,  and  the  sin  that  doth  so  easily  beset  us,  and 
run  the  race  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the  author  and 
finisher  of  our  faith." 

Let  us  study  the  perfect  embodiment  of  this  grace,  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  was  meek  and  lowly  :  learn  of  him, 
and  imitate  him.  Every  painter  has  a  great  model,  conform- 
ity to  which  he  regards  as  an  approach  to  perfection.  Every 
poet  has  his  favorite  poet,  whose  inspiration  he  regards  as  all 
but  divine  ;  and  in  this  life  every  Christian  should  have  his 
model ;  but  the  only  model  that  has  no  flaw,  the  only  char- 
acter in  which  the  lynx-eyes  of  Jew  and  Gentile,  friend  and 
foe,  never  detected  yet  a  spot,  a  speck,  or  an  imperfection,  is 


82  earth's  rightful  heirs. 

the  Son  of  God.  What  a  sublime  exhibition  of  Christian 
meekness  was  given  when  he  cried  upon  the  cross,  "  Father, 
forgive  them ;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do  ;  "  and  he  has 
left  us  this  example,  not  that  it  may  be  admired,  but  that  we 
may  follow  his  steps. 

And,  in  the  next  place,  to  obtain  his  grace,  let  us  pray  for 
it,  or  seek  it.  If  it  be  so  precious,  so  beautiful,  so  fit  for  and 
worthy  of  a  Christian,  pray  for  it.  When  Jesus  said  to  the 
disciples,  "  Ye  shall  forgive  such  an  one  seventy  times  seven," 
what  did  they  say  ?  They  instantly  prayed  for  the  meekness 
that  was  requisite  :  "  Lord,  increase  our  faith." 

If  you  exemplify  this  grace,  you  say,  "  I  shall  be  denounced 
as  mean  or  dastard  in  spirit."  Believers  care  less  for  the 
judgment  of  man ;  they  love  the  praise  of  God  before  the 
praises  of  men.  Do  you  say  "  I  shall  be  trodden  down  ;  "  who, 
I  ask,  will  wrong  you  if  you  be  followers  of  that  which  is 
good  ?  "I  shall  be  cast  out  of  every  possession  I  have  ;  "  I 
reply,  "  The  meek  shall  inherit  the  land." 

Such  meekness  is  blessed.  Why  is  it  so  ?  A  meek  and 
quiet  spirit,  says  the  apostle,  is  of  great  price.  It  is  the 
badge  of  a  Christian ;  it  is  the  livery  of  our  blessed  Master ; 
it  has  the  superscription  of  Jesus ;  it  is  the  reflection  of  his 
image ;  and  whatever  in  us  is  like  him  so  far  has  a  benedic- 
tion upon  it. 

Such  a  feeling  is  blesssed ;  because  it  is  a  source  of  quiet, 
of  calm  and  of  sunshine,  in  the  Christian  heart.  We  all  know 
quite  well  that  the  feeling  of  revenge  is  like  a  corrosive  poi- 
son dropped  upon  the  human  heart ;  it  eats  into  its  peace ; 
there  is  no  quiet,  no  peace,  no  happiness,  no  repose,  so  long 
as  that  feeling  exists.  In  most  passions,  satiety  is  the  close, 
but  in  the  passion  of  revenge  satiety  is  the  beginning,  of  sor- 
row. In  ordinary  passions,  when  they  are  gratified,  we  are 
at  rest;  but  when  we  gratify  the  passion  of  revenge,  con- 
science becomes  the  accuser,  and  pleads  for  the  victim ;  and 


EAKTK'S   IlIGUTFUL    ILEIRS.  83 

a  feeling  of  dissatisfaction,  disquiet  and  pam,  is  the  necessary 
and  the  growing  consequence;  whereas,  when  its  meekness  is 
implanted  in  the  heart,  "  it  droppeth  like  the  gentle  rain  from 
heaven  upon  the  place  beneath ;  it  is  twice  blessed,  —  it  bless- 
eth  him  that  gives,  and  him  that  takes." 

It  is  a  grace  that  prepares  the  heart  for  other  graces. 
Elisha  lost  his  temper,  and  rebuked  the  applicant  that  was 
before  him;  it  needed  the  minstrel's  strain  to  reduce  the  tem- 
per of  the  prophet  into  quiet,  before  God  would  speak  to  him, 
and  teach  and  tell  him  what  to  do. 

Lastly,  it  is  blessed,  because  it  shall  inherit  the  earth.  It 
has  the  stamp  and  the  mark  of  the  hundred  and  forty  and 
four  thousand ;  they  are  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the  living 
God,  and  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth. 

"  The  earth  "  is  equivalent  to  that  expression  of  the  apostle, 
"  the  age  to  come,"  or  the  habitable  globe,  in  its  resurrection, 
beauty,  glory  and  perfection,  when  it  shall  have  emerged  from 
its  baptism  of  fire,  and  be  constituted  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  Even  now,  all 
things  are  yours  by  a  charter  obsolete  in  the  courts  of  Caesar, 
but  real  in  the  court  of  heaven ;  and  having  nothing,  yet  pos- 
sessed of  all,  is  our  lot.     This  is  a  blessed  life  ! 

The  meek,  because  they  are  meek,  show  that  they  are 
Christ's ;  and  they  that  are  Christ's,  chosen  in  him,  and  by 
his  Holy  Spirit  made  like  him,  shall  reign  with  him  a  thou- 
sand years,  and  find  the  twilight  of  millennial  bliss  merge  in 
the  noonday  splendor  of  everlasting  day,  where  there  is  no 
more  unrighteousness,  nor  curse,  nor  sufiering,  but  where  all 
former  things  are  passed  away. 

But  the  expression  "  inherit  "  denotes  that  meekness  is  a 
character  that  fits  for  the  inheritance,  not  a  title  or  a  merit 
that  gives  us  a  right  to  it.  A  son  may  be  a  bad  man ;  but, 
as  the  heir  of  his  father,  he  inherits  his  father's  estate.  So 
Christians,  in  spite  of  their  defects,  their  sins,  their  imper- 


84  earth's  rightful  heirs. 

fections  and  their  temper,  clothed  with  the  righteousness  of 
Jesus,  striving  against  sin,  seeking  the  meekness  that  is  so 
beautiful,  and,  in  Grod's  sight,  of  so  great  price,  shall  inherit 
—  not  because  they  are  meek,  but  because  they  are  sons  —  the 
glory  that  is  to  be  revealed.  Jesus  died  with  nothing  in  him, 
nothing  done  by  him,  worthy  of  death.  You  and  I  shall  live 
with  nothing  in  us,  nothing  done  by  us,  worthy  of  life.  When 
Jesus  died,  it  was  because  our  sins  were  on  him.  When  we 
shall  be  acquitted,  it  will  be  because  of  Christ's  righteousness 
upon  us.  Meekness  is  our  character ;  the  merit  of  Christ,  our 
title,  our  claim  and  our  right. 

This  grace  assumes  that  we  are  in  the  world.  There  can 
be  no  meekness  in  a  place,  except  there  be  plurality  in  it ; 
there  can  be  no  meekness  in  solitude.  It  implies  that  we  are 
rubbing  against  society,  that  we  are  mingling  with  it,  that  we 
feel  its  rough  edges,  and  come  into  contact  with  its  sharp 
points.  Christ  prays  that  we  may  not  be  taken  out  of  the 
world,  but  that,  when  in  it,  we  may  not  be  of  it.  And  it  is 
in  the  world  that  we  may  display  that  meekness  of  heart 
which  is  one  of  the  best  preparatives  for  the  kingdom  of 
glory. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   HUNGRY   TILLED    WITH    GOOD    THINGS. 

Thou  who,  when  wandering  Israel,  parched  and  dying, 
Unto  the  prophet  cried  in  sore  distress, 
Heardst,  and  in  mercy  to  their  plaint  replying. 
Bade  the  flood  gush  amid  the  wilderness  ; 
Hear  me  !     To  thee  my  soul  in  suppliance  turneth  : 
Like  the  lorn  pilgrim  on  the  sands  accursed, 
For  life's  sweet  waters,  God,  my  spirit  yearneth  : 
Give  me  to  drink,  I  perish  here  of  thirst. 

*'  Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  : 
for  they  shall  be  filled."  — Matthew  5  :  6. 

I  HAVE  shown,  in  my  remarks  on  these  beatitudes  that  pre- 
cede the  one  I  have  selected  as  the  subject  of  this  chapter, 
that  they  are  all  linked  in  beautiful  sequence  together,  so  that 
Christian  character  is  as  clearly  cumulative  as  it  is  divinely 
blessed.  First,  we  have  expressed  a  sense  of  spiritual  desti- 
tution, that  is,  the  condition  "  poor  in  spirit ;  "  we  find  this 
deep  sense  of  destitution  leading  to  a  sorrow  to  which  is  ap- 
pended the  promise  that  it  shall  be  comforted  ;  we  have  this 
sorrow  softening  and  subduing  the  spirit  into  meekness,  or 
gentleness,  humility  before  God,  and  charity  towards  all  men ; 
and,  lastly,  we  see  this  leading  to  that  hungering  and  thirsting 
after  righteousness  which  is  pronounced  to  be  blessed,  and  to 
which  the  promise  is  given,  "  They  shall  be  filled." 

This  benediction  seems  to  refer  back  to  an  ancient  invita- 
8 


86  THE    HUNGRY    FILLED    WITH    GOOD    THINGS. 

tion,  "  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters, 
and  he  that  hath  no  money  ;  come  ye,  buy  and  eat ;  yea,  come, 
buy  wine  and  milk,  without  money,  and  without  price."  Such 
phraseology  is  frequent.  No  impartial  reader  of  the  Bible 
can  fail  to  see  how  often  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  are 
represented  by  things  that  are  to  be  eaten,  and  the  desire  to 
possess  these  blessings  by  the  strongest  appetites  in  our 
nature,  —  hunger  for  bread,  and  thirst  for  water. 

The  blessing  pronounced  on  the  hungering  and  thirsting 
for  righteousness  implies  in  such  persons  a  deep  instinctive 
desire,  that  can  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  that  right- 
eousness which  is  referred  to. 

But  what  is  this  righteousness?  We  are  told  in  the 
eighth  chapter  of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans.  "  What  the  law 
could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh,  God  send- 
ing his  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  and  for  sin, 
condemned  sin  in  the  flesh ;  that  the  righteousness  of  the  law 
might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but 
after  the  Spirit."  We  have  the  same  righteousness  described 
by  the  same  apostle  in  his  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  where  he 
says,  "  Christ,  who  knew  no  sin,  was  made  sin  for  us,  that  we 
might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him."  I  look  upon  it, 
therefore,  as  the  instinctive  desire  or  thirst  of  humanity,  under 
the  consciousness  of  feelings  I  shall  proceed  to  enumerate,  for 
that  righteousness  —  though  as  yet  they  may  not  know  it  — 
which  will  bear  the  test  of  the  Searcher  of  hearts,  and  justify 
the  wearer  of  it  in  the  sight  of  the  great  Legislator  of  heaven 
and  earth. 

The  answer  to  the  desire  of  human  kind,  which  has  been 
felt  in  every  age,  but  gratified  in  none  save  where  the  Gospel 
is  known,  we  are  told,  is,  that  Christ,  who  knew  no  sin,  was 
made  sin  for  us,  that  this  hunger  and  thirst  might  be  satisfied 
by  our  being  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him.  Jesus 
Buffered,  having  done  nothing  worthy  of  death ;  we  shall  be 


THE   HUNGRY    FILLED    WITH    GOOD    THINGS.  87 

glorified,  having  done  nothing  worthy  of  life.  Our  sins  were 
hiid  upon  him,  therefore  he  fell;  his  righteousness  will  be 
laid  upon  us,  therefore  we  shall  rise.  When  Jesus  cried, 
upon  the  cross,  "  It  is  finished,"  he  had  done,  said  and  felt,  noth- 
ing before  heaven  or  earth  that  deserved  death ;  and  when  we 
shall  be  acquitted  at  the  judgment-seat,  we  shall  have  done, 
said  and  thought,  nothing  that  will  be  worthy  of  eternal  life. 
Our  sins  were  on,  not  in  him ;  his  righteousness  is  on,  not  in 
us.  As  it  was  just  in  God  to  let  forth  the  expressions  of  his 
wrath  upon  the  innocent  sin-bearer,  it  will  be  but  just  in  God 
to  let  forth  the  expressions  of  his  love  upon  the  guilty  right- 
eousness-wearers. As  he  was  made  sin  for  us,  and  in  our 
stead,  so  we  are  made  righteousness  by  him,  or  his  righteous- 
ness is  imputed  unto  us.  This  is  primarily  the  righteousness 
for  which  they  are  said  here  to  thirst  and  hunger,  and  on 
which  a  blessing  is  pronounced. 

What  is  it  that  leads  persons  thus  to  hunger  and  thirst  ? 
What  is  it  that  constitutes  this  hunger  and  thirst  ?  They 
have  first  a  sense  of  insufficiency  and  dissatisfaction  in  all  cre- 
ated things.  No  man  feels  he  has  enough,  or  derives  perfect 
satisfaction  from  what  he  has.  Every  one  has  more  happi- 
ness in  the  pursuit  of  earthly  things  than  in  the  possession  of 
them.  What  seemed  just  the  thing  that  we  wanted  in  the  distant 
perspective,  is  found,  when  we  have  got  it,  not  to  be  a  satisfac- 
tion, but  a  new  stimulus,  that  makes  us  long,  and  thirst,  and 
hunger  still  for  something  more,  till  at  last  the  man  who  pur- 
sues most  eagerly,  and  possesses  most  largely,  the  best  things 
of  this  world,  learns  eventually,  amidst  tears  and  bitter  regrets, 
that  he  was  spending  his  money  for  that  which  was  not  bread, 
and  his  labor  for  that  which  has  satisfied  not. 

But  this  deep  sense  of  the  unsatisfactoriness  of  all  human 
things  does  not  make  a  person  go  out  of  the  world,  materially 
or  actually,  because  the  world  cannot  satisfy  him.  If  his 
feeling  of  dissatisfaction  be  the  commencement  of  the  hunger 


88  THE   HUNGRY   FILLED   WITH    GOOD   THINGS. 

that  is  blessed,  he  neither  becomes  a  monk  nor  dies  a  suicide ; 
two  characters  that  are  actuated  by  one  principle,  —  they  can- 
not or  will  not  conquer  the  world  by  grace,  and  therefore 
they  quit  it,  one  to  avoid  its  temptations,  and  the  other  its 
trials.  He  merely  becomes  more  deeply  conscious  that  there  is ' 
no  real  satisfaction  upon  earth,  that  its  most  majestic  cisterns 
are  broken,  or  dry,  or  poisoned  ;  and  that  whoso  tasteth  of  its 
bitter  water  thirsts  again ;  and  therefore  it  makes  him  only 
the  more  intensely  thirst  for  that  living  water,  of  which,  if  a 
man  drink,  he  shall  never  thirst  as  the  world  does.  He  will 
have  with  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  unto  everlasting 
life. 

There  is,  secondly,  an  exciting  element  of  this  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness,  or,  what  leads  man  to  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness,  a  deep  sense  of  guilt.  Man  feels 
he  is  miserable ;  he  knows,  and  needs  not  to  be  told,  that  he 
is  sinful,  and  he  is  therefore  unhappy.  His  heart  makes  him 
feel  he  is  miserable  ;  his  conscience  tells  him  he  is  guilty  ; 
and  his  want  of  happiness  and  want  of  holiness  together  make 
him  hunger  and  thirst  for  something  that  will  expiate  the  one, 
and  allay  the  pangs  and  sorrows  of  the  other.  He  soon  dis- 
covers that,  to  take  away  his  misery,  there  must  be  .taken 
away  his  sin.  This  is  a  great  and  precious  discovery.  It  is 
the  dawn  of  glory.  We  begin  to  find  out  that  sin  is  the  bit- 
ter root,  — that  all  the  aches  and  miseries  that  flesh  is  heir  to 
are  only  the  apples  of  Sodom  that  grow  upon  this  inveterate 
root.  We  discover  that  sin  is  as  sound,  and  unhappiness  the 
echo,  the  prolific  parent ;  and  ills,  and  aches,  and  storms, 
and  disquiet,  the  progeny  that  spring  from  it.  We  come  to 
discover,  partly  by  nature,  chiefly  by  grace,  that  the  misery 
which  corrodes  the  heart  never  can  be  removed  except  by  the 
expiation  of  the  sin  which  cramps  and  fevers  the  conscience. 

There  follows,  next,  a  perception  of  the  utter  inef&cacy  of  all 
human  prescriptions  to  remove  the  sin  of  which  misery  is  the 


THE    nUNGRY   FILLED    WITH    GOOD    THINGS.  oy 

stream,  or  to  supply  the  righteousness  which  is  the  foundation 
of  the  joy  and  peace  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Penance 
may  take  away  the  health  of  the  body  by  its  mortifications, 
but  it  cannot  take  away  the  sin  of  the  soul ;  for  it  has  no 
power  to  reach  it.  It  may  extinguish  all  that  is  pleasant  to 
the  eye  ;  it  may  hush  all  that  is  musical  to  the  ear;  but  no 
penitential  exercises,  or  fastings,  or  flesh  mortifications,  or 
misereres,  or  aves  frequently  repeated,  can  reach  the  deep 
seat  of  man's  misery,  the  real  centre  and  spring  of  his  unhap- 
piness,  —  the  sin  that  lies  upon  the  conscience,  the  load  that 
weighs  down  and  depresses  lost  and  fallen  humanity. 

Nor  does  a  Christian  feel  that  any  absolution  pronounced 
from  the 'heights  or  the  depths  can  lay  his  misery,  or  remove 
or  mitigate  the  cause  of  that  misery.  The  absolution  of  the 
priest  may  cast  dust  in  the  eye,  or  furnish  an  opiate  for  a 
day ;  but  it  cannot  touch  the  accused  at  the  judgment,  it 
cannot  cancel  the  transgression  of  the  culprit  at  God's  bar,  or 
give  real  and  lasting  quiet. 

There  is,  finally,  a  discovery  of  that  righteousness  which  is 
unto  all  and  upon  all  that  believe,  the  characteristic  per- 
fection of  which  I  have  endeavored  to  delineate  by  referring 
to  its  beautiful  announcement.  Jesus,  who  knew  no  sin,  was 
made  sin  for  us,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of 
God  in  him. 

Thus,  hunger  and  thirst  are  excited  by  these  discoveries, 
and  brought  home  to  the  conscience,  and  applied  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  —  a  hunger  which  one  thing  only  can  lay,  a  thirst  which 
one  fountain  only  can  slake ;  —  and  just  as  the  hunger  of  the 
body  can  only  be  removed  by  food,  and  as  the  thirst  of  the 
body  can  only  be  removed  by  water,  so  this  sensation  of 
spiritual  hunger,  and  spiritual  thirst,  created  in  the  soul,  and 
produced  under  God  by  the  thoughts,  conclusions  and  con- 
siderations, we  have  intimated,  can  only  be  satisfied  with  that 
bread  that  cometh  down  from  heaven,  and  that  liring  water 
8^ 


90  THE   HUNGRY    FILLED    WITH    GOOD    THINGS. 

which  evermore  wells  from  the  fountain  of  life,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

We  have  arrived  at  an  idea  of  that  hunger  which  is  met 
bj  living  bread;  but  there  is  produced  beyond,  and  addi- 
tional to  this,  a  hunger  for  enjoyments,  which  the  Spirit  of 
God  alone  can  satisfy.  The  first  feeling  of  spiritual  hunger 
is  subdued  and  satisfied  by  an  apprehension  of  that  righteous- 
ness for  which  the  sinner  hungers ;  but  a  yet  existing  hunger 
is  satisfied  and  removed,  or  mitigated,  at  least,  by  the  supply 
of  all  those  fruits  of  the  Spirit  which  grow  upon  the  tree  of 
life,  whose  fruit  is  for  food,  and  whose  leaves  are  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations.  When  man  is  justified,  he  is  at 
peace  with  God,  and  the  hunger  that  longed  for  that  righteous- 
ness which  is  unto  all  and  upon  all  that  believe  is  laid  for- 
ever ;  but  there  is  awakened  instantly  a  hunger,  and  a  thirst, 
or  anxiety  to  taste  the  pleasures  of  the  Gospel,  by  sitting 
down  under  that  "  banner  which  is  love,"  and  "  eating  of  that 
pleasant  fruit "  which  Christ  has  provided  for  all  that  be- 
lieve ;  a  basket-full  of  that  fruit  is  given  by  an  apostle,  when 
he  says,  "  Add  to  your  faith  virtue ;  and  to  virtue  knowledge ; 
and  to  knowledge  temperance ;  and  to  temperance  patience ; 
and  to  patience  godliness ;  and  to  godliness  brotherly  kind- 
ness ;  and  to  brotherly  kindness  charity."  These  are  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit.  Thus  the  hunger  that  is  satisfied  with  a 
righteousness  which  is  our  title  only  originates  another  hun- 
ger, which  can  be  satisfied  only  with  perfection  itself,  by  eat- 
ing that  pleasant  fruit  which  is  enumerated  by  the  apostle 
Peter  in  his  epistle. 

Thus  we  see  how  the  hunger  which  is  here  pronounced  is 
blessed,  and  what  is  the  food  which  can  satisfy  it.  Wherever 
this  hunger  is  felt,  there  will  be  no  more  apathy.  Let  a  man 
feel  the  pangs  of  hunger,  and  instinctively  he  appeals  for 
bread.  Let  a  Christian  feel  the  hunger  of  the  soul,  and  in- 
stinctively he  seeks  that  which  can  satisfy  it.     Pie  will  read 


THE   HUNGRY   FILLED   WITH   GOOD   THINGS.  91 

God's  word,  if  peradventure  he  may  discover  it.  He  will 
hear  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  if  peradventure  he  can 
hear  of  it ;  and  the  most  delightful  news  which  he  can  hail 
will  be  the  declaration  of  that  righteousness  which  satisfies  all 
wants,  overflows  all  desires,  in  which  God's  eyes  can  see  no 
flaws,  in  which  the  sinner's  heart  can  detect  no  imperfections. 

Those  who  thus  hunger  and  thirst  are  pronounced  blessed. 
They  have  one  of  the  elements  of  the  blessed  life.  Such 
hunger,  says  Jesus,  carries  a  benediction  in  its  bosom.  It  is 
the  evidence  of  a  new  nature  :  it  is  the  instinctive  character- 
istic of  a  soul  which  has  been  ushered  into  a  new  life.  The 
babe,  the  moment  it  is  born,  seeks  the  nutriment  provided  for 
it;  the  sinner,  who  has  been  translated  from  darkness  into 
light,  seeks  the  living  nutriment  without  which  he  must  die ; 
and  the  very  hunger  and  thirst  that  he  feels  for  it  is  to  him 
the  irrefragable  proof  that  his  heart  has  been  quickened,  that 
the  life  of  God  is  in  his  soul,  and  that  he  is  born  again,  and 
made  one  of  the  family  of  God. 

If  there  be  no  appetites  in  the  body,  there  can  be  no  life ; 
and  if  these  appetites  seek  after  unwholesome  things,  there 
can  be  no  health.  If  we  are  satisfied  with  the  bread  which 
God  has  provided,  it  indicates  health  ;  if  we  are  hungry  for 
it,  it  indicates  that  we  have  life ;  but  if  we  are  seeking  the 
tinsel  of  human  rhetoric  instead  of  the  bread  that  nourishes 
the  soul,  if  we  cannot  take  the  simple  food  without  craving 
after  artificial  stimulants,  if  we  prefer  to  feed  on  husks  in- 
stead of  the  food  of  our  Father's  house,  if  we  prefer  the 
bright  poppies  to  the  corn,  there  is  disease.  We  need  to 
apply  to  the  Great  Physician,  and  ask  him  to  pronounce  over 
us,  "I  will,  be  thou  healed." 

This  hunger  and  thirst  is  blessed,  because  in  seasons  of 
disquiet,  despondency  and  doubt,  to  which  every  believer  is 
more  or  less  subject,  there  is,  in  the  sensation  that  he  feels, 
the  inferential  evidence  that,  notwithstanding  all  his  doubts, 


y2  THE   HUNGRY   FILLED    WITH   GOOD    THINGS. 

his  despondency,  his  distrust,  he  is  yet  one  of  the  accepted 
of  God.  An  earnest  hungering  after  righteousness,  a  wish 
to  be  what  Christ  requires  us  to  be,  a  desire  to  be  found  in 
him,  though  not  faith  really,  is  faith  in  Grod's  acceptance  : 
for  he  accepts  the  desire  for  the  thing,  and  satisfies  the  de- 
sire that  he  himself  has  implanted.  There  is  not  a  heart  that 
yearns  for  spiritual  joy  and  spiritual  righteousness  which  has 
not  been  touched  by  the  transforming  grace  of  the  Spirit  of 
God ;  and  whilst  the  sensation  of  the  want  may  be  pain, 
yet  that  sensation,  painful  as  it  is,  is  inferentially  pleasure  : 
for  it  is  the  proof  that  God  has  begun  that  good  work  of 
which  he  is  the  author,  and  of  which  he  will  be  the  finisher 
also. 

They  are  blessed  who  thus  hunger  and  thirst  after  right- 
eousness, because  they  are  drawn  off  from  the  disappointing 
and  perplexing  pursuit  of  the  things  of  this  world.  They 
cease,  in  proportion  to  the  intensity  of  that  feeling,  to  hunger 
after  that  which  is  not  bread,  and  to  labor  for  that  which 
satisfieth  not.  In  proportion  as  the  next  world  grows  in 
brightness,  the  present  falls  into  the  shadow.  In  proportion 
as  the  heart  is  absorbed  with  the  unseen,  it  lets  go  its  grasp 
of  the  seen  and  the  temporal.  The  affections  set  upon  Christ 
are  withdrawn  from  lesser  things.  The  greater  light  extin- 
guishes the  lesser ;  and  thus  we  escape  the  disappointments, 
the  pains  and  the  perplexities,  of  pursuits  that  never  gratify  ; 
and  we  start  upon  that  race  which  is  ascending  progress,  the 
goal  of  which  is  immortality  and  glory,  looking  unto  Jesus, 
the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith. 

But  such  are  blessed,  primarily  and  chiefly,  because  they 
shall  be  filled:  "  Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness,  for  they  shall  be  filled."  This  is  the  star 
that  cheers  the  believer  in  his  darkest  night ;  here  is  the  rain- 
bow that  overarches  the  gulf  of  his  deepest  despondency ; 
the  bright  light  t'^iit  bids  him  still  hope  on,  faint,  yet  pursuing. 


THE   HUNGRY   FILLED    WITH   GOOD   THINGS.  93 

"  Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  aifter  righteous- 
ness, for  thej  shall  be  filled."  It  is  God  who  says  so  ;  and, 
therefore,  we  are  sure  that  we  shall  be  filled.  "  He  filleth 
the  hungry  with  good  things,  but  the  rich  he  sendeth  empty 
away."  He  satisfieth  the  longing  soul ;  and  it  is  he  who 
says,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  to  me  and  drink;  "  it 
is  he  who  says,  "  The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And 
let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst 
come.  And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life 
freely."  God  satisfies  the  wants  of  all  living  things.  The 
sparrow  on  the  house-top  looks  to  him,  and  he  feeds  it  as 
carefully  as  the  noble  inhabitant  within.  The  summer  swal- 
low on  its  wing  chirps  to  him,  and  he  hears  it.  The  young 
lions  no  sooner  lack  food  than  he  opens  his  hand,  and  satisfies 
the  desire  of  every  living  thing.  Are  ye  not  much  betfer 
than  they  ?  If  God  satisfies  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  the  fowls 
of  the  air,  the  fishes  of  the  deep,  surely,  surely,  he  will  not 
leave  desolate,  and  forever  hungry,  and  never  satisfied,  his 
rational,  fallen,  but  yet  beloved  and  believing  ofi"spring. 

God  always  gratifies  the  desire  that  he  himself  implants. 
Whatever  Satan  has  implanted  in  the  human  heart,  God 
extirpates ;  but  whatever  God  himself  has  awakened  in  the 
human  heart,  that  he  nourishes.  The  passions  of  which 
Satan  is  the  inspirer  God  will  destroy ;  the  appetites  of 
which  God  is  the  author  he  himself  will  gratify.  He  has 
made  us  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness ;  he  will  fill  us. 

He  is  our  Father,  and  we  are  his  children.  If  your  son 
ask  you  for  bread,  will  you  give  him  a  stone  ?  If  he  ask  you 
for  a  fish,  will  you  give  him  a  serpent  ?  If  you,  earthly 
fathers,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your  children,  how 
much  more  shall  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  give  good 
things  to  them  that  ask  him  !  It  is  God's  happiness  to  give, 
and  satisfy  the  wants  of  all  flesh.  It  is  one  of  those  beauti- 
ful traits  disclosed  in  the  divine  character,  that  God's  richest 


94  THE   HUNGRY   FILLED   "\yiTH   GOOD   THINGS. 

glory  and  joy  seem  to  be  involved  in  the  most  munificent 
giving.  Were  we  only  to  think  of  God  more  as  the  giver 
of  blessings,  and  to  think  of  him  less  as  the  exactor  of  duties, 
we  should  do  duties  better,  and  we  should  be  more  thankful 
for  blessings.  Nature's  common  idea  of  God  is,  that  he  is  a 
great  and  sovereign  tyrant,  always  exacting  duties  that 
nature  is  unable  to  discharge ;  the  Gospel  picture  of  God  is, 
that  he  is  a  great  and  gracious  Father,  ever  bestowing  bless- 
ings, exacting  nothing,  but  leaving  the  blessing  to  suggest  the 
obligation  that  you  owe,  the  gratitude  that  you  should  feel, 
and  the  duties  which  thereby  devolve  continually  upon  you. 
Wheresoever  God  is  regarded  as  the  giver  of  all,  the  exactor 
of  nothing,  there  is  the  richest,  noblest,  purest  obedience. 
Wherever  God  is  regarded  as  the  exactor  of  duties,  but  the 
giver  of  nothing,  there  is  the  suspicion  of  the  slave,  the 
miserable  obedience  of  the  subject  to  a  tyrant,  but  not  the 
joyful  response  of  a  son  to  a  loving  and  aflfectionate  father. 

God  will  satisfy  the  believer,  first  of  all,  with  righteous- 
ness. They  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  shall 
be  filled.  They  shall  be  clothed  with  white  robes.  They 
shall  appear  in  raiment  white  and  clean,  which  is  the  right- 
eousness of  saints.  All  that  we  feel  requisite  to  meet  the 
demands  of  God's  law  will  be  supplied  us.  All  that  we  feel 
needful  to  expiate  the  curse  of  his  broken  law  will  be  given 
us.  Our  hearts  will  be  inlaid  with  holiness,  till  holiness  shall 
cease  to  be  a  duty,  and  become  the  very  air  that  we  breathe, 
the  pulse  of  the  heart,  the  joy  and  delight  of  the  soul ;  and 
that  beautiful  image  efi"aced  at  the  fall  shall  be  re-struck  and 
re-stamped  upon  man,  and  a  world  that  commenced  with 
holiness  and  Eden  shall  end  in  the  holiness  and  happiness  of 
a  yet  grander  Paradise  restored. 

We  shall  be  filled,  not  only  with  righteousness,  but  also 
with  that  which  is  its  spontaneous  fruit,  perfect  happiness. 
The  possession  of  perfect  holiness  is  necessarily  the  posses- 


THE    HUNGRY    FILLED    WITH    GOOD    THINGS.  95 

sion  of  perfect  happiness.  Did  men  in  national,  social,  polit- 
ical, municipal  arrangements,  only  keep  in  mind  this  gre^t 
principle,  that  will  outlast  the  stars  in  its  duration,  and  prove 
coeval  with  the  existence  of  the  throne  of  Deity,  that  sin  is 
misery,  that  what  promotes  the  first  necessarily  spreads  the 
last,  that  holiness  and  righteousness  are  happiness,  and  that 
what  promotes  the  one  necessarily  sustains  and  promotes 
the  other,  they  would  pursue  better  measures,  and  advo- 
cate better  plans  for  benefiting  mankind.  We  may  rest 
assured  that  in  proportion  as  righteousness  flows  down  our 
streets,  will  the  sunshine  of  happiness  irradiate  our  roofs ; 
that  in  proportion  as  righteousness  exalts  a  people,  will  there 
bound  and  beat  in  the  hearts  of  that  people  the  joy  that 
teacheth  us  to  live  righteously  and  godly,  and  that  will  cul- 
minate in  a  glory  that  is  perfect ;  until,  in  the  language  of 
the  psalmist,  "  We  shall  be  satisfied  when  we  awake  with 
God's  likeness." 

The  expression  "  fill "  seems  to  denote  a  feast.  We  read 
of  that  feast  in  the  twenty-second  chapter  of  St.  Matthew, 
"  They  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
in  the  kingdom  of  God."  It  is  called  in  the  Apocalypse  the 
marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb,  where  angels  are  our  ministry, 
the  glory  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  is  our  light,  the  tree  of 
life,  whose  fruit  is  for  food,  is  in  our  midst,  with  the  river  of 
life  that  proceedeth  from  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb 
evermore  flowing  past,  proclaimed  by  Isaiah  as  a  feast  of  fat 
things,  in  which,  and  by  which,  we  shall  be  abundantly 
satisfied. 

So  much,  then,  for  the  explanation  ;  first,  of  the  appetite 
which  has  its  origin  in  God,  —  spiritual  hunger  and  spiritual 
thirst ;  secondly,  the  benediction  pronounced  upon  it,  show- 
ing that,  however  painful  may  be  the  sense  of  want,  there  is 
an  element  of  joy  in  that  very  sense,  because  it  is  the  evi- 
dence that  we  have  received  life  from  on  high,  and  that  our 


96  THE   HUNGRY   FILLED    WITH    GOOD   THINGS. 

hearts  are,  therefore,  no  longer  dead  in  trespasses  and  in 
sins ;  and  lastly  and  chiefly,  the  benediction  is  felt  in  the 
hope  of  its  ultimate  falfilment,  when  all  who  now  hunger  and 
thirst  after  a  righteousness,  a  perfection  and  a  glory,  that 
are  aliens  in  a  great  degree  to  this  fallen  world,  shall,  when 
they  awake,  be  satisfied  with  the  likeness  of  God,  with  the 
joys  that  are  at  his  right  hand,  and  with  the  pleasures  that 
are  forevermore. 

Earth  is  the  place  of  want  or  desire.  Perfect  satisfaction 
is  not  reaped  or  realized  below.  "  This  is  not  our  rest,"  is 
proclaimed  by  a  thousand  tongues.  •'  There  remaineth  a 
rest  for  the  people  of  Grod,"  is  eloquently  and  emphatically 
announced  by  one,  and  that  one  the  voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God.  David  describes  the  nature  of  the  earth  when  he 
said,  "  There  is  none  on  earth  I  desire,"  showing  that  on 
earth  we  have  a  hunger  not  satisfied  perfectly  till  we  arrive 
in  heaven,  a  desire  that  will  not  be  completely  subdued  until 
we  are  where  prayer  is  not,  because  there  are  no  wants  to 
fill,  no  hunger  to  remove.  On  earth  the  Christian's  affec- 
tions will  aspire  towards  God,  yet  not  reach  him,  as  when 
the  moon  shines  upon  the  sea,  and  the  eager  waves  lift  their 
gleaming  heads,  each  anxious  for  her  smiles. 

The  future  is  our  rest.  As  the  present  is  not,  the  future 
unquestionably  is.  Tjiere  remaineth  a  rest  for  the  people  of 
God :  "  They  shall  be  filled."  «  When  I  awake,  I  shall  be 
satisfied  with  thy  likeness."  Or,  as  it  is  beautifully  de- 
scribed by  the  seer  in  the  Apocalypse,  and  by  Isaiah  in  his 
prophecy,  "  They  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither  shall  they 
thirst  any  more ;  and  the  inhabitant  shall  not  say,  I  am  sick ; 
and  there  shall  be  no  night,  nor  sorrow,  nor  tears,  nor  sigh- 
ing, nor  death  ;  for  the  former  things  are  all  passed  away." 

We  learn  that  real  religion  is  a  matter  of  personal  experi- 
ence. A  man  knows  when  he  is  hungry,  he  feels  when  he  is 
thirsty.     This  is  the  instinct  of  nature.     If  there  be  real 


THE   HUNGRY    FILLED    WITH    GOOD    THINGS.  97 

religion,  if  we  be  Christians  at  all,  we  must  be  conscious  of  a 
hunger  that  will  carry  us  to  the  sanctuary,  to  the  Bible,  to 
the  throne  of  grace,  to  God  for  bread ;  and  of  a  thirst  which 
will  be  satisfied  with  nothing  from  this  world's  cisterns,  which 
will  only  be  met  and  removed  by  water  from  the  fountain  of 
life. 

Though  this  earth  be  not  our  rest,  and  though  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness  be  not  perfectly  removed  and  for- 
ever satiated  in  this  world,  yet  there  is  a  benediction  even 
here  on  real  religion.  There  is  a  blessedness  in  real  religion 
even  in  the  tears  it  sheds,  in  the  sorrows  it  is  pierced  with,  in 
the  hunger  it  is  conscious  of,  and  in  the  wants  of  which  it  is 
the  heir.  It  is  the  heart  at  peace  with  God  that  makes  the 
whole  universe  seem  at  peace  with  us,  and  the  stars  of  the 
sky  and  the  flowers  of  the  earth  smile  on  us.  It  is  not  the 
house  that  makes  the  home ;  it  is  the  heart  of  the  inhabitant. 
Demas  loved  this  world,  went  after  its  joys,  and  ceased  to 
hunger  for  the  bread  of  life.  Paul  clave  to  Christ,  but  was 
happy,  notwithstanding  strife,  and  bonds,  and  imprisonment. 

Let  us  learn  this  blessed  truth,  that  death  is  our  departure 
from  a  state  in  which  we  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteous- 
ness, to  that  state  in  which  we  shall  be  filled.  Death  is  not 
annihilation  ;  it  is  only  removal.  It  is  not  ceasing  to  be ;  it 
is  beginning  to  be.  It  is  not  an  exodus  from  life,  but  a  de- 
parture for  life.  The  believer  dies  physically  ;  but  morally, 
spiritually,  truly,  he  lives  a  nobler  and  a  more  glorious  life  ; 
and  I  doubt  not  that  in  the  case  of  a  dying  Christian,  before 
the  last  echoes  of  physical  life  have  ceased  to  be  heard  in  the 
chambers  of  the  soul,  the  first  beat  of  everlasting  life  is  felt, 
and  the  tides  of  eternal  joy  begin  to  overflow  and  to  make  happy 
the  emancipated  spirit.  Let  us  rejoice  to  believe  that  death, 
which  so  many  fear,  which  all  men  more  or  less  deprecate, 
is  not  what  nature  regards  it,  and  justly  regards  it,  but  has 
become  what  grace  enables  us  to  see  it,  the  kind  angel  that 
9 


98  THE   HUNGRY   FILLED   WITH   GOOD   THINGS. 

breaks  off  the  chains,  and  draws  the  bolts  and  the  bars,  and 
opens  the  prison  doors,  and  lets  the  glad  spirit  go  free  from 
hungering  and  thirsting  to  that  better  and  blessed  land,  where 
all  our  wants  shall  be  satisfied,  and  all  our  desires  shall  be 
filled. 

But  this  under-current  of  the  blessed  life  is  never  alto- 
gether clear  and  still.  It  meets  with  obstructions;  it  is 
never  wholly  satisfied. 

"  Although  its  heart  is  rich  in  pearls  and  ores. 
The  sea  complains  upon  a  thousand  shores 
Sea-like  we  moan  forever.     We  are  weak, 
We  ever  hunger  for  diviner  stores." 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    TWICE    BLESSED. 

"  The  quality  of  mercy  is  not  strained  : 
It  droppetli  as  the  gentle  dew  from  heaven 
Upon  the  place  beneath.     It  is  twice  blessed  ; 
It  blesses  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes. 
'T  is  mightiest  in  the  mighty  ;   it  becomes 
The  throned  monarch  better  than  his  crown." 

"  Blesyed  are  the  merciful  :  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy."  —  Matthew 
6:  7. 

Righteousness  terminates  one  chain  of  beatitudes  and 
begins  another.  The  poor  in  spirit  are  the  lowly  in  their 
own  sight,  and  the  humble  in  God's ;  they  that  mourn  grieve 
that  they  are  destitute  of  that  which  alone  makes  holy  or 
happy;  the  meek  have  that  subduedness  of  spirit  which 
results  from  a  sense  of  emptiness,  and  poverty,  and  ignorance. 
Consciousness  of  these  makes  them  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness ;  and  God,  according  to  his  promise,  satisfies 
them.  Then  all  the  graces  that  follow  assume  the  possession 
of  that  righteousness.  The  graces  that  precede  the  sixth 
verse,  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  are  those  of  persons  in 
whose  hearts  there  is  a  deep  and  conscious  sense  of  poverty, 
ignorance,  error  and  ruin ;  the  graces  that  succeed  the  sixth 
verse  are  those  beautiful  and  adorning  traits  in  the  Christian 
character,  which  are  peculiar  to  them  that  are  justified  by 
that  righteousness  which  is  unto  all  and  upon  all  that  believe. 

The  very  first  grace  that  grows,  like  a  beautiful  spring 


100  THE   TWICE   BLESSED. 

flower,  on  the  ground  of  righteousness  now  received,  is  the 
grace  of  mercy,  or  of  compassion.  In  proportion  as  men 
are  destitute  of  evangelical  righteousness  before  God,  are 
they  strangers  to  tender  compassion  and  mercy  towards  man- 
kind. The  scribes  and  the  Pharisees  had  a  righteousness 
which  was  their  own,  and  it  was  only  fit  to  be  their  own ; 
they  had,  therefore,  a  hard-heartedness,  a  cruelty,  and  an 
indifference  to  the  wrongs  and  the  sufi"eiings  of  others,  which 
were  notoriously  and  publicly  their  own  also.  None  are  so 
tender  in  their  compassion  to  their  brethren  as  they  who  have 
felt  in  their  own  hearts  most  richly  and  fully  the  compassion 
of  God  toward  them.  As  a  church  ceases  to  be  evangelical 
in  its  creed,  and  spiritual  in  its  convictions,  it  comes  to  be 
bigoted,  exclusive,  and  cruel.  Hence,  wherever  the  right- 
eousness that  is  by  faith  is  lost,  as  the  load-star  in  a  profess- 
ing Christian  church,  there  mercy  to  the  souls  and  compas- 
sion to  the  bodies  of  men  seem  to  be  altogether  quenched  and 
extinguished.  In  the  purest  Protestant  church  there  is  most 
of  missionary  action,  because  there  is  most  of  tender  compas- 
sion in  the  heart ;  in  the  corrupt  and  apostate  church  there 
is  cruelty,  proscription,  bigotry,  exclusiveness  and  bloodshed, 
because  they  have  lost  the  light,  and  the  softening  influence 
of  that  salvation  through  faith  in  the  atonement  of  the  Lamb, 
which  lies  at  the  very  foundation  and  root  of  all  Christian 
character. 

Our  Lord  selects  mercy  as  the  first  grace  exhibited  by  the 
justified  believer,  to  pronounce  a  benediction  on:  "Blessed 
are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness ;  for  they 
shall  be  filled;"  and  then,  "Blessed  are  those  who,  having 
that  righteousness,  exhibit  mercy :  for  they  also  shall  obtain' 
mercy."  To  whom  much  is  forgiven,  by  such  much  will  be 
forgiven.  They  who  have  received  the  richest  mercies  will 
themselves  exhibit,  not  for  a  reward,  but  as  a  grateful  and 
instinctive  response,  the  richest  mercies  to  mankind.     There 


THE   TWICE   BLESSED.  101 

may  be  nothing  in  the  hand,  —  this  we  cannot  help ;  but  there 
may  be  much  in  the  heart,  and  this  we  are  responsible  for. 
God's  grace  puts  mercy  in  the  heart ;  God's  providence  puts 
the  means  of  unfolding  it  in  the  hand.  These  are  not  always 
and  everywhere  joined.  One  has  a  full  hand,  who  has  an 
empty  heart.  Another  has  a  compassionate  heart,  of  whose 
compassion  tears  are  the  only  available  exponents,  and  whose 
good  wishes,  often  more  precious  than  the  gold  of  others,  are 
all  they  can  give  to  denote  how  deeply  they  feel.  If  we 
have,  mercy  draws  on  it ;  if  we  have  not,  mercy  expresses 
our  sympathies,  retires,  and  is  silent. 

What  is  mercy,  or  compassion  ?  It  is  sorrow  at  the  suffer- 
ing of  a  fellow-creature,  rational  or  irrational ;  and,  along 
with  that  sorrow,  an  earnest  desire,  if  possible,  to  relieve  it. 
True  mercy  is  deep  compassion  at  the  sufferings,  the  sorrows, 
or  the  wrongs  of  another,  accompanied  by  an  earnest  desire 
to  remove  those  wrongs,  and  to  neutralize  and  still  those  suf- 
ferings. It  does  not  ask  the  question,  "  Is  the  sufferer  of  my 
nation,  sect,  party  or  church  ?  Does  he  speak  my  shibboleth, 
wear  my  robes,  advocate  my  cause  ?  "  These  are  questions 
it  never  entertains.  In  its  purest  type  it  sees  nothing  but 
suffering ;  in  its  noblest  exercise  it  recognizes  nothing  in  the 
expressions  of  its  liberality  but  a  sufferer,  wherever  and  who- 
ever that  sufferer  may  be. 

This  mercy,  or  compassion,  not  only  overflows  the  puny 
distinctions  of  party,  nation  or  tribe,  but  it  even  overflows 
the  broad,  lofty  and  awful  wall  of  sin  itself.  It  does  not  say 
of  the  sufferer.  Does  the  man  deserve  relief?  It  simply  asks 
the  question.  Does  he  suffer  ?  In  showing  mercy,  the  merci- 
ful man  looks  less  at  the  sins  of  the  sufferer,  and  more  at  the 
depth  of  his  want,  and  the  agony  of  his  heart.  He  leaves 
the  suffering  man's  sins  with  God,  for  him  to  pardon,  oi'  to 
punish ;  he  takes  the  sufiering  man's  sorrows  for  himself,  to 
pity,  to  compassionate,  and  relieve.  When,  therefore,  an 
9=^ 


102  THE   TWICE   BLESSED. 

applicant  comes  for  pecuniary  relief,  we  should  not  ask,  as 
we  are  all  so  apt  to  do,  "  What  are  your  antecedents  ?  "  we 
should  rather  look  at  his  present  sufiferings.  Do  not,  however, 
be  imposed  upon.  If  there  be  hypocrisy,  sham  and  pretence, 
uncloak  it,  rebuke  and  dismiss  it ;  but  if  there  be  real  misery, 
the  consequence  even  of  real  crimes,  leave  his  crimes  with 
God,  and  with  his  own  conscience,  and  hasten  to  bind  up  his 
wounds,  and  to  supply  his  wants,  and  to  give  relief  as  you 
are  able.  We  are  not  only  to  show  mercy  in  spite  of  the 
man  being  a  foreigner,  but  in  spite  of.  the  man  being  a  sin- 
ner. If  God  were  to  show  no  mercy  except  to  the  innocent, 
where  should  we  be  ?  With  what  measure  ye  mete  to  others, 
it  shall  be  meted  to  you. 

We  are  to  go  a  step  further,  and  to  pity  the  sufferer  as  a 
sinner,  and  to  show  mercy  to  him  simply  because  he  is  a 
sinner.  We  are  not  only  to  show  mercy  to  him  by  relieving 
his  wants  in  spite  of  his  being  a  sinner,  but  to  show  mercy 
to  him  just  because  he  is  a  sinner.  Who  on  earth  is  most  to 
be  pitied  ?  Surely,  surelj'',  the  man  who  has  lost  the  way  to 
heaven.  None  so  much  needs  pity.  We  are  all  prone  to 
anathematize  the  Roman  Catholic,  the  Socinian,  the  sceptic, 
and  the  atheist;  and  we  do  well  to  try  to  undeceive  them, 
and  to  express  our  deep  abhorrence  of  the  awful  errors  into 
which  they  have  fallen  ;  but  that  is  easy  and  natural  enough. 
We  need  also  to  feel,  while  we  abhor  the  sins  and  the  errors 
of  him  who  has  gone  astray,  that  there  is  room  for  compas- 
sion at  the  awful  position  into  which  he  has  fallen.  It  is 
God's  prerogative  to  ascend  the  judgment-throne,  and  to  pro- 
nounce retributions;  it  is  my  privilege,  and  my  duty  too,  to 
bow  the  knee  at  the  throne  of  grace,  and  to  pray  for  mercy 
and  forgiveness.  God  decides  on  the  character  of  the  man  ; 
I,  as  a  fellow-sinner,  pity  the  misfortune  of  the  man ;  and, 
because  he  is  suffering,  I  must  try  to  relieve  him  ;  he  has  gone 
astray,  I  will  try  to  put  him  right ;  he  is  a  sinner,  I  will  seek 


THE   TWICE   BLESSED.  103 

to  lead  him  to  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world.  When  Jesus  shed  tears  over  Jerusalem,  he  wept 
over  its  great  sins,  as  well  as  its  approaching  calamity.  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  slaughter  of  the  innocents  by  Herod  awoke 
so  much  feeling  in  the  mind  of  Jesus  as  the  approaching  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem.  The  death  of  those  innocents  was 
but  their  translation  to  glory ;  the  ruin  of  Jerusalem  was 
awful  beyond  description,  because  at  the  day  of  judgment  it 
would  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  than  for 
such  a  capital,  surrounded  by  such  privileges. 

Now,  it  is  remarkable  that  mercy,  which  is  so  frequently 
enjoined  in  the  Gospel  on  the  followers  of  the  cross,  is  one 
of  those  graces  which  ancient  heathen  philosophy  repudiated 
as  the  attribute  of  weakness  of  character.  The  Stoic,  as 
personated  in  Zeno,  allowed  you  to  relieve  the  suffering,  but 
forbade  you  to  feel  the  least  compassion  for  the  sufferer. 
Human  nature,  in  the  eyes  of  a  Stoic,  reached  its  culminating 
grandeur  in  proportion  as  it  became  petrified  into  ice,  or  con- 
solidated into  stone.  You  might  relieve  the  needy,  if  such 
you  met  with ;  but  to  shed  a  tear,  or  to  be  penetrated  by  a 
deep  and  tender  compassion,  was  denounced  as  unworthy  of  a 
great  man  and  a  good  philosopher.  And  yet,  when  we  re- 
lieve a  poor,  destitute,  starving  beggar,  that  appeals  to  us  for 
aid,  the  shilling,  the  half-crown,  the  sovereign,  that  you  give 
him,  most  precious  in  its  place,  are  not  so  comforting  to  his 
heart  as  the  spirit  and  the  way  in  which  you  give  it.  Some 
seem  to  feel,  when  a  needy  applicant  applies  for  relief,  that 
when  they  have  given  a  trifle  they  have  given  all  that  is 
really  demanded.  The  way  in  which  we  give  is  more  effect- 
ual than  the  sum  that  we  give.  Hence,  not  iron  officials,  but 
tender-hearted  and  merciful  men,  ought  to  sit  at  every  board 
of  relief,  whether  parochial,  national  or  otherwise.  The  way 
to  harden  the  poor  into  obduracy  is  to  fling  relief  at  them, 
and  bid  them  begone.     The  way  to  touch  a  chord  that  will 


104  THE   TWICE   BLESSED. 

vibrate  sweet  music  in  the  heart  of  the  forlorn,  and  awaken 
the  elements  of  good,  is  to  give  with  a  compassionate  expres- 
sion, and  to  show  that  what  you  give  is  but  a  poor  exponent 
of  the  depth  of  the  compassion  that  you  truly  feel.  Much, 
I  fear,  of  our  manner  is  stoical,  if  much  of  our  real,  inward- 
feeling  be  eminently  Christian.  Wherever  true  mercy  or 
compassion  is,  it  should  drop  as  the  gentle  rain  upon  the  place 
beneath ;  and  then  it  is  twice  blessed,  —  it  blesseth  him  that 
gives,  and  him  that  takes. 

Mercy  is  most  frequently  and  eloquently  enjoined  in  various 
portions  of  Scripture  as  one  of  the  great  evidences  of  Chris- 
tian character.  God  himself  is  spoken  of  as  "  keeping  mercy 
and  judgment,  and  showing  mercy  to  thousands."  "  Blessed 
is  he  that  considereth  the  poor."  Again,  says  our  blessed 
Master,  "  Be  ye  merciful  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  merci- 
ful." We  cannot  read  the  Bible  without  seeing  frequent  in- 
junctions of  mercy.  And  if  it  be  thought  right  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  so  often  to  present  this  duty,  it  cannot  be  wrong  in  the 
evangelical  minister  most  earnestly  to  preach  and  press  it. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  unmerciful  man  is  spoken  of  in  Scrip- 
ture in  terms  of  the  strongest  rebuke.  "  He  shall  have  judg- 
ment without  mercy,  who  hath  showed  no  mercy."  In  almost 
every  page  of  the  ancient  prophets,  unmercifulness  is  repre- 
sented as  a  hideous  vice.  "  Their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre ; 
with  their  tongues  they  have  used  deceit ;  the  poison  of  asps 
is  under  their  lips ;  whose  mouth  is  full  of  cursing  and  bitter- 
ness ;  their  feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood;  destruction  and 
misery  are  in  their  ways ;  and  the  way  of  peace  have  they 
not  known."  It  is  represented  as  sowing  discord  among 
brethren,  as  creating  Cains  in  society,  as  setting  every  man's 
hand  against  his  fellow.  It  is  denounced  by  the  apostle  in 
the  first  chapter  of  the  epistle  to  the  Bomans,  in  a  catalogue 
of  the  blackest  vices,  as  one  of  the  blackest.  He  says, 
"  Without  understanding,  covenant-breakers,  without  natural 


THE   TWICE   BLESSED.  105 

affection,  implacable,  unmerciful."  It  is  spoken  of  again  by 
David,  in  the  Psalms,  as  the  source  and  cause  of  judgments 
falling  upon  mankind.  "  Set  thou  a  wicked  man  over  him  : 
and  let  Satan  stand  at  his  right  hand.  AVhen  he  shall  be 
judged,  let  him  be  condemned  :  and  let  his  prayer  become 
sin.  Let  his  days  be  few ;  and  let  another  take  his  office. 
Let  his  children  be  fatherless,  and  his  wife  a  widow.  Because 
that  he  remembered  not  to  show  mercy,  but  persecuted  the 
poor  and  needy  man,  that  he  might  even  slay  the  broken  in 
heart." 

Mercy  is  always  represented  in  Scripture  as  the  character- 
istic of  the  loftiest  nature.  "The  Lord  God,  merciful,"  — 
the  very  first  attribute,  —  "  and  gracious."  "  Be  ye  merciful." 
God  is  "  rich  in  mercy,"  "  plenteous  in  mercy,"  "  abundant  in 
mercy."  Wherever  there  is  the  highest  holiness,  there  seems 
to  be  the  greatest  mercy.  Wherever  the  eye  is  filled  with  the 
purest  light,  there  the  tear  of  compassion  seems  least  to  be  a 
stranger,  as  if  the  highest  holiness  ever  had  the  deepest  com- 
passion. In  the  bosom  of  our  blessed  Master,  the  great  model 
whom  we  are  to  imitate,  mercy  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  resplendent  gems.  In  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of 
St.  Matthew,  we  read  that  when  he  saw  the  multitudes,  he 
was  "  moved  with  compassion  on  them."  When  he  saw  Laz- 
arus resting  in  the  cold  grave  and  amid  the  chill  damps  of 
death,  he  wept.  As  he  gazed  upon  Jerusalem,  his  deep  and 
yearning  compassion  poured  forth  its  current  in  the  most  ten- 
der and  touching  words  :  "  0  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  how 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a 
hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would 
not !  "  And  when  the  apostle  would  present  our  blessed  Lord 
in  the  most  endearing  and  interesting  aspect,  he  tells  us,  in 
the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  "  we  have  not  an  high  priest 
which  cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities; 
but  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin. 


106  THE   TWICE   BLESSED. 

Let  us  therefore  come  boldly  unto  the  throne  of  grace,  that 
we  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need." 
We  shall  find,  too,  that  the  most  illustrious  saints  in  the  mar- 
tyrology  of  the  past  were  not  the  least  distinguished  for  the 
deep  and  tender  compassion  that  they  showed  to  all  mankind.' 
When  Stephen  was  hurried  to  the  judgment-seat,  amid  the  re- 
proaches of  his  murderers,  his  deep  compassion  breathed 
itself  in  prayer,  "  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge."  At 
the  last  day,  some  of  the  richest  evidences  of  Christian  char- 
acter will  be  the  mercy  and  compassion  that  has  been  shown 
by  the  people  of  God  to  those  that  stood  in  need  of  it.  "  I 
was  an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat;  I  was  naked,  and  ye 
clothed  me.  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in.  I  was 
sick,  and  ye  visited  me.  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto 
me."  Mercy  shows  itself  not  necessarily  in  giving  money. 
"  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto  me."  That  visit  of 
sympathy  was  the  evidence  of  Christian  character,  —  the 
expression  of  true  compassion.  "  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited 
me."  That  condoling  sympathy,  the  utterance  of  a  fellow 
feeling,  was  the  expression  of  grace  and  of  yearning  mercy. 
When  you  visit  the  sick  and  the  suffering,  it  is  not  always 
necessary  that  you  should  read  the  Scriptures,  hov/ever  desir- 
able ;  it  is  not  always  necessary  that  you  should  pray,  however 
beautiful  and  appropriate  ;  but  a  word  in  season,  how  sweet  it 
is !  Do  not  utter  the  vulgar,  commonplace  expressions  of  com- 
passion, "  I  hope  you  will  get  better."  "  How  are  you  to-day  ?  " 
But  go  into  the  sick  chamber  clothed  in  the  radiant  robe  of 
Christian  character;  say  some  beautiful,  deep,  glorious  truth 
from  God's  own  blessed  word,  and  it  will  ring  in  echoes  of  sweet 
music  in  the  sufferer's  heart ;  and  he  will  feel  that  an  exponent 
of  mercy,  who  has  obtained  mercy,  has  come  to  gladden  his  sick 
chamber  with  his  beautiful  and  healing  presence.  How  many 
give  consolation  to  the  suffering  just  as  a  nurse  gives  medi- 
cine to  the  sick,  —  as  something  that  they  would  not  for  the 


THE   TWICE   BLESSED.  107 

world  taste  themselves,  and  never  tasted  in  their  own  lifetime ! 
Let  us  express  to  the  sick  our  own  sympathies,  and  remind 
them  of  that  thought  so  refreshing  to  a  Christian  sufferer,  — 
Jesus  was  clothed  with  our  humanity ;  he  knew  what  suffer- 
ing was ;  he  tasted  our  cup ;  we  have  a  high  priest  who  is 
passed  into  the  heavens,  who  can  be  touched  with  the  feeling 
of  our  infirmities,  and  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us. 

Having  thus  seen  the  repeated  proofs  of  the  excellence  of 
this  grace,  and  the  esteem  in  which  it  is  held  in  the  sacred 
volume,  let  me  inculcate  the  seasonable  lesson,  that  mercy  is 
a  grace  obligatory  upon  all,  whether  they  be  rich  or  poor, 
whether  they  have  the  power  to  express  it  in  open  charity,  or 
not.  The  very  reason  that  we  are  in  the  world  is  that  we 
may  be  useful  in  our  measure  to  the  rest  of  mankind.  Men 
are  afflicted  for  me  to  pity  them.  They  suffer  just  for  me  to 
relieve  them ;  they  are  in  want  for  me  to  supply  them.  Men 
are  in  lowly  circumstances  for  me  to  visit  them.  Wherever 
I  see  suffering,  there  I  behold  one  who  reminds  me  of  a  duty. 
Wherever  I  see  want,  there  I  hear,  if  my  ear  be  circumcised, 
a  summons  to  duty,  —  no,  I  will  not  say  to  duhj,  but  to  en- 
joyment and  to  privilege.  Why  is  one  man  richer  than 
another  ?  Not  that  he  may  live  more  luxuriously,  but  that 
he  may  be  more  helpful.  Why  was  Solomon  wiser  than  I  ? 
That  I  may  be  benefited  by  his  wisdom.  Why  is  another 
man  richer  than  I  ?  That  my  poverty  may  participate  in  his 
abundance.  Why  does  one  man  suffer,  and  I  remain  in 
health  ?  That  I  may  go  and  visit  him.  We  are  members 
one  of  another ;  and,  if  one  member  suffer,  all  should  sym- 
pathize. If  one  string  in  a  harp  be  touched,  all  the  other 
strings  in  the  room  will  sound  in  harmony  or  unison  with  it. 

In  order  to  exercise  this  mercy,  let  us  think  of  the  mercy 
that  we  have  received.  There  is  not  a  breath  that  we 
draw  that  is  not  an  inspiration  of  mercy;  there  is  not  a 
bounding  beat  in  a  happy  heart  that  is  not  a  response  to  the 


108  THE   TWICE   BLESSED. 

touch  of  infinite  beneficence ;  and,  to  sura  up  all  mercies  in 
that  which  is  the  richest,  the  most  glorious,  the  unutterable 
one,  "Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  him,  but  that  he  loved 
us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins." 
Pylades,  in  ancient  story,  laid  down  his  life  for  Orestes ;  but ' 
Orestes  was  his  friend.  "  God  commended  his  love  towards 
us,  in  that  while  we  were  yet  sinners  Christ  died  for  us." 

Scarcely  for  a  righteous  man  will  one  dare  to  die,  although 
for  a  righteous  or  a  good  man  some  would  even  dare  to  die ; 
but  show  me,  in  all  the  ancient  catalogues  of  suffering  or  sa- 
crifice, a  man  laying  down  his  life  for  the  foe  who  hated  him, 
and  I  will  admit  that  Christianity  has  a  parallel,  and  that 
there  is  a  chapter  in  history  that  can  be  put  in  compar- 
ison with  it ;  but  there  is  none.  We  have  instances  in  the 
Bible  of  great  sufierings  undergone  by  Christians  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  mercy  and  sympathy  for  one  another.  There  is  a 
beautiful  incident,  which,  if  it  were  only  in  a  heathen  writer, 
would  be  sounded  forth  by  every  sceptic  in  Christendom ;  but 
which,  because  it  is  in  an  inspired  epistle,  is  too  purposely 
overlooked :  "  Greet  Priseilla  and  Aquila,  my  helpers  in 
Christ  Jesus;  who  have  for  my  life  laid  down  their  own 
necks,"  —  an  instance  of  female  martyrdom  for  apostolic  ser- 
vice, as  beautiful  in  itself  as  it  is  encouraging  to  us.  We 
find  mercy  towards  others  constantly  enforced  in  Scripture 
by  the  great  mercies  that  we  have  received  in  Christ.  "  We 
beseech  you  by  the  mercies  of  God,"  says  the  apostle.  If 
we  feel  that  we  have  received  mercy,  it  is  not  that  we  may 
act  like  the  barren  sand,  absorb  it,  but  like  the  fertile  soil 
that  receives  the  dews  and  rains  of  heaven,  and  brings  forth 
the  fairest  fruits  and  flowers  that  look  upward  to  the  sky. 

I  now  pass  from  the  consideration  of  the  grace  of  mercy, 
to  the  benediction  pronounced  upon  it,  —  "  Blessed  are  the 
merciful :  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy."  There  is  a  conscious 
joy  in  the  bosom  of  him  who  feels  compassion  to  others,  with 


THE   TWICE   BLESSED.  109 

which  every  one  must  be  in  some  degree  acquainted.  Selfish- 
ness corrodes  the  heart,  and  cankers  the  temper.  There  is  a 
luxury  in  doing  good  which  the  Epicureans  of  this  world  have 
never  tasted.  There  is  a  feeling  of  satisfliction,  of  repose, 
and  of  delight,  in  the  recollection  that  you  have  done  a  good 
turn  to  a  neighbor,  that  you  have  raised  up  a  friend  that  was 
bowed  down,  that  you  have  spoken  a  thought  of  truth  or  of 
comfort  to  a  mourner,  or  that  you  have  given,  not  a  super- 
fluity, as  we  all  give  often  enough,  but  a  necessity,  in  order 
that  you  might  do  a  friend,  a  neighbor,  an  enemy,  good. 

God  bestows  special  benedictions  on  the  merciful.  Not 
only  does  he  say  in  one  word  "  Blessed  are  the  merciful, " 
but  in  several  passages  of  Scripture  he  states  the  special  ap- 
probation that  he  feels  towards  them.  He  says  (Isaiah  58:6), 
"  Is  not  this  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen  ?  to  loose  the  bands 
of  wickedness,  to  undo  the  heavy  burdens,  and  to  let  the  op- 
pressed go  free,  and  that  ye  break  every  yoke  ?  Is  it  not  to 
deal  thy  bread  to  the  hungry,  and  that  thou  bring  the  poor 
that  are  cast  out  to  thy  house  ?  when  thou  seest  the  naked, 
that  thou  cover  him ;  and  that  thou  hide  not  thyself  from 
thine  own  flesh."  Then  hear  the  benediction  on  it,  "  Blessed 
are  the  merciful." —  "  Then  shall  thy  light  break  forth  as  the 
morning,  and  thine  health  shall  spring  forth  speedily  :  and  thy 
righteousness  shall  go  before  thee ;  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
shall  be  thy  rereward."  He  who  makes  the  earth  more  beauti- 
ful and  happy  around  him  ever  sees  the  heaven  more  bright, 
holy  and  beautiful,  above  him.  No  man  bestows  a  blessing 
on  another,  without  the  sensation  in  his  own  heart,  not  of 
merit,  but  of  satisfaction  and  delight  —  a  feeling  as  insepara- 
ble from  it  as  sound  is  from  echo,  or  as  shadow  is  from  light. 
They  who  are  thus  meraiful  are  blessed  because  they  are  god- 
like. As  we  approach  God  in  character,  we  approach  him  in 
happiness.  Sin  is  essentially  misery ;  holiness,  of  which  com- 
passion is  one  of  the  evidences,  is  essentially  happiness ;  and, 
10 


110  TUa   TWICE    BLESSED. 

as  we  become  merciful  as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  merciful, 
in  the  same  proportion  shall  we  approximate  to  him  in  the 
enjoyment  of  that  happiness  of  which  he  is  the  fountain-head 
and  the  inexhaustible  spring. 

Such  as  are  merciful  are  blessed  in  their  persons ;  they  are . 
blessed  in  their  name ;  they  are  blessed  in  their  family  ;  they 
are  blessed  in  their  estate ;   they  are  blessed  with  long  life. 
These  blessings  are  pronounced  in  various  portions  of  God's 
word  upon  those  who  are  merciful. 

And  they  are  blessed  emphatically  in  this :  "  They  shall 
obtain  mercy."  A  promise  in  Scripture  is  partly  a  possession. 
Whatever  God  has  promised,  hope  lays  hold  of;  and  in  the 
heart  of  hope  there  is  a  present  having,  an  earnest  and  a 
foretaste  of  the  future  full  reward.  When  a  person  has  a 
bank-note,  he  has  five  sovereigns,  because  he  has  confidence  in 
its  availableness  and  currency.  When  a  Christian  has  a  prom- 
ise in  Scripture,  he  has  the  "  I  promise  to  pay  "  of  God,  which 
is  a  currency  of  happiness  available  here.  The  man  who  is 
merciful  is  blessed,  because,  if  a  child  of  God,  —  and  it  is  the 
children  of  God  who  are  here  spoken  of  as  bringing  forth  these, 
the  fruits  of  the  Spirit, — he  has  a  present  earnest  of  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  promise,  "  They  shall  obtain  mercy." 

We  shall  find  that  those  who  are  merciful  obtain  mercy 
from  others  in  this  world.  There  is  a  disposition,  even  in  the 
minds  of  the  unsanctified  masses  of  mankind,  to  respect,  revere 
and  love,  the  merciful  and  the  compassionate  man.  Let  one 
who  has .  shown,  when  he  had  property  in  his  power,  mercy 
and  compassion  to  the  poor,  be  deprived,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  and  by  those  changes  and  vicissitudes  to  which  all  soci- 
ety is  liable  every  day,  of  the  means  of  any  more  expressing 
that  mercy  in  its  wonted  munificence,  he  will  yet  be  loved  by 
all  who  knew  his  generosity  while  he  had ;  and  society,  which 
is  not  composed  of  demons,  if  not  of  angels,  will  show  how 
true  is  the  benediction  in  the  text,  "Blessed  are  the  merciful : 
for,"  even  in  this  life,  "  they  shall  obtain  mercy." 


THE   TWICE   BLESSED.  Ill 

They  shall  obtain  mercy,  not  only  among  men,  by  being 
recofuized  and  revered  as  the  merciful  who  have  moved 
through  society  as  living  benedictions,  while  they  had  the 
means,  but  they  shall  obtain  mercy  from  God  even  in  this 
world.  They  will  get  pardoning  mercy,  sustaining  mercy. 
Grace  is  not  judgment ;  but  yet,  in  this  world,  there  is  enough 
of  retribution  to  show  that  God  reigns,  while  there  is  enough 
of  confusion  to  make  us  long  for  a  judgment-day,  when  what 
is  wrong  will  be  rectified.  All  must  have  noticed,  in  looking 
at  the  history  of  individuals  on  a  larger  scale,  that  men  who 
have  exercised  mercy  have  thus  given  the  proof  of  that  state 
and  character  of  heart  which  God  loves;  they  are  richly 
watered  themselves. 

Above  all,  they  will  obtain  mercy  "  at  that  day."  What 
day  ?  The  last  day  of  just  and  final  retribution.  Death  does 
not  create  character  :  it  only  fixes  it  forever.  If  mercy  be  an 
evidence  of  grace,  the  character  it  indicates  is  perpetuated  by 
death.  The  waters  of  death  are  not  waters  of  ablution  ;  they 
simply  carry  him  who  is  placed  in  their  current  to  the  judg- 
ment-seat, and  leave  him  just  as  they  found  him.  We  all 
know  that  we  need,  not  only  that  righteousness  which  is  our 
title  to  heaven,  but  that  purity  of  heart,  peace-loving,  peace- 
making, and  meek  temper,  which  are  the  constituent  elements 
of  our  fitness  for  heaven.  They  who  are  merciful  have  one 
of  those  graces  that  qualify,  not  entitle,  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

And  we  may  argue  from  this  that  special  blessings  in  the 
world  to  come  are  assigned  to  special  characters,  distinguished 
by  special  graces.  These  blessings  in  the  world  to  come  are 
not  the  rewards,  according  to  desert,  of  graces  we  have  devel- 
oped hero,  but  they  are  the  assignment  of  spheres  and  fields 
for  the  exercise  of  these  peculiar  graces  in  their  matui-ity,  the 
seeds  of  which  have  been  sown  upon  earth,  and  have  been 
more  or  less  developed  in  the  growth  of  our  character  here 


112  THE   TWICE   BLESSED. 

below.  There  may  be  a  sphere  in  the  future  rest  where  the 
meek  shall  reign ;  another  sphere  where  the  peacemakers  shall 
be  manifested  as  the  sons  of  God ;  another  where  the  merci- 
ful shall  shine  in  that  beautiful  light.  Heaven  is  not  one  vast 
monotony ;  it  is  composed  of  varied  characters,  with  varied- 
degrees  of  development,  of  sanctification  and  expansion  ;  each 
will  have  his  place,  a  place  contingent  upon  the  peculiar  char- 
acter which,  through  the  Spirit  of  God,  he  developed  in  his 
conduct  in  this  present  world ;  and  thus,  in  the  age  to  come, 
there  may  be  benedictions  fitted  for  each  Christian,  according 
to  what  he  was,  through  grace,  in  the  church  below. 

We  here  learn,  what  is  very  important,  that  the  spring  of 
a  true  happiness  is  within.  Every  benediction  in  the  fifth 
chapter  of  St.  Matthew  is  not  upon  an  outer  condition,  but 
upon  an  inner  character.  The  source  of  happiness  is  not  the 
estate,  nor  the  title,  nor  the  wealth,  but  the  heart.  A  holy 
heart  must  be  a  happy  one ;  a  sinful  nature  must  be  a  miser- 
able one.  The  joy  that  culminates  in  glory  has  its  commence- 
ment below ;  the  sorrow  that  has  no  measure,  and  that  will 
have  no  end,  begins  here  in  the  individual  heart.  The  king- 
dom of  God  is  an  inner  thing  before  it  is  outer.  It  must  be 
within  you  before  you  shall  be  admitted  as  a  subject  within  it. 

Every  benediction  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew 
rebukes  selfishness.  "  Blessed  are  the  poor,  the  merciful,  the 
meek,  the  hungry."  Selfishness,  not  self-love,  is  the  great  sin 
of  the  world.  It  is  the  chief  governor  of  thousands  in  the  age 
we  live  in.  And  yet  we  feel  that  selfishness  is  corrosive  to 
the  heart  as  a  poison;  that  mercy,  charity,  benevolence, 
spread  a  glow  of  beauty  over  the  face,  and  create  in  the  heart 
serenity,  thanksgiving,  and  peace.  If  we  could  get  rid  of 
that  selfishness  which  thinks  of  its  own  sufferings,  however 
little,  and  nothing  of  a  brother's,  however  great, — which  is  ever 
jealous  lest  it  do  not  get  what  it  deserves,  and  ever  afraid  lest 
you  do  not  defer  to  it  v/ith  all,  and  that  not  a  little,  which  it 


TILE    TWICE    BLESSED.  113 

thinks  is  its  due,  —  how  calmly  would  your  heart  beat,  how 
truly  would  you  illustrate  what  all  history  is  teaching,  that, 
in  proportion  as  Christianity  spreads  over  the  mass  of  man- 
kind, does  the  desert  begin  to  rejoice,  and  the  wilderness  to 
blossom  even  as  the  rose.  But  when  we  fall  into  that  horrid 
state  which  some  think  the  very  perfection  of  common  sense, 
"  The  world  cares  nothing  for  me,  and  I  care  nothing  for  the 
world,"  we  shall  feel  it  sounds  very  grand,  but  it  is  very  mis- 
erable. Yv^e  know  there  is  no  happiness  in  any  such  feeling. 
There  is  no  help  for  us  but  to  love,  if  we  would  be  happy. 
Hate  men,  and  you  will  be  more  miserable  than  they ;  love 
men,  and  they  will  be  blessed  by  your  love,  and  its  reflex 
operation  will  bless  yourselves  also.  Look  upon  the  world's 
goodness  with  thankfulness  to  God ;  look  upon  the  world's 
sins  with  compassion  and  with  prayer ;  look  upon  the  world's 
injuries  with  forgiveness  ;  and  pray  that  the  spirit  that  builds 
up  the  Christian  character  with  all  that  brightens  and  beau- 
tifies here  below  may  make  you  merciful,  and  give  the  bene- 
diction now,  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  then  ;  "for  they 
shall  obtain  mercy."  Thus  will  you  tread  one  of  the  fairest 
paths  of  the  blessed  life. 
10=^ 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

THE  BEATITUDE  OF  THE  PURE  IN  HEART. 

*'  Yet  far  beyond  the  clouds  outspread. 

Where  soaring  fancy  oft  hath  been. 
There  is  a  land  where  thou  hast  said 

The  pure  in  heart  shall  enter  in. 
There,  in  those  realms  so  calmly  bright. 

How  many  a  loved  and  holy  one 
Bathe  their  pure  souls  in  living  light. 

That  sparkles  from  thy  radiant  throne  !  " 

"  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  :  for  they  shall  see  God." 

Matthew  5:8. 

This  is  nearly  the  last  of  those  beautiful  benedictions  pro- 
nounced by  our  Lord  on  special  character,  in  the  fifth  chapter 
of  St.  Matthew.  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,"  that  is, 
the  meek,  the  humble,  the  lowly,  in  their  own  sight.  We 
had  next  the  blessing  on  them  who  mourned  for  sin,  or  suffered 
for  Christ's  sake.  We  heard  next  a  blessing  on  those  who 
hunger  and  thirst  after  that  of  which  they  have  the  conscious 
want,  a  righteousness  by  which  they  can  be  justified,  and  ren- 
dered fit  for  heaven.  We  have  read  the  blessing  on  the  mer^ 
ciful,  a  grace  that  follows  righteousness ;  and  now,  in  the 
eighth  verse,  we  read,  "  Elessed  are  the  pure  in  heart." 

Not  "  Blessed  are  the  rich  in  circumstance,"  nor  "  the 
prosperous  in  life,"  but  "  the  pure  in  heart."  Jesus  looks 
within,  and  from  what  he  finds  there  decides  whether  there 
shall  be  a  blessing  or  a  curse ;  and  wherever  he  sees  purity 
of  heart,  there  comes  from  his   lips  the  benediction,,  never 


THE   BEATITUDE   OF   THE   PURE   IN   HKiRT.  115 

without  its  effect,  "  Blessed  are  these :  for  they  shall  see 
God."  We  have  seen  all  along  that  happiness  is  not  cre- 
ated by  circumstance,  but  is  generated  by  character.  The 
benediction  is  not  upon  outward  circumstance,  but  upon  in- 
ward character ;  and  wherever  the  holy  character  is,  there 
the  benediction  rests;  wherever  the  character  is  not,  let 
the  man  who  is  destitute  of  it  be  clothed  in  purple  and  fine 
linen  every  day,  he  has  no  lot  or  share  in  the  benedictions  of 
Christ. 

The  heathen  were  satisfied  with  external  character.  To  be 
right  in  the  sight  of  men  was  all  they  wished ;  to  be  correct 
in  the  outer  conduct  was  the  very  flower  and  perfection  of 
heathen  morality.  The  Pharisees,  indeed,  almost  the  whole 
nation  of  the  Jews,  were  more  anxious  about  the  outside  of  the 
platter  being  clean  than  the  inside.  All  excellence  was  con- 
formity to  the  letter  of  the  law :  it  mattered  not  that  the 
spirit  of  it  was  violated  ten  times  a  day.  It  is  of  these  that 
Christ  speaks  when  he  says,  "  Except  your  righteousness 
exceed,"  not  only  in  degree,  but  in  kind,  "  that  of  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees,"  —  that  is,  righteousness  of  the  letter ;  rigid, 
mechanical  righteousness,  instead  of  righteousness  from  the 
heart,  —  "ye  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  And  thus, 
speaking  to  the  heathen,  who  regarded  mere  outer  morality, 
and  to  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  only  looked  at  the  let- 
ter of  the  law,  Jesus  sends  his  lightning  glance  into  the 
depths  of  the  human  heart,  and  declares  that  there  alone  is 
that  purity  of  character  which  secures  a  benediction  from 
heaven,  in  the  absence  of  which,  all  exterior  grandeur,  how- 
ever beautiful,  is  only  like  the  whited  sepulchre,  all-beautiful 
without,  but  inside  full  of  corruption  and  dead  men's  bones. 

Let  us  try  to  ascertain  what  this  purity  is  which  is  here  so 
extolled.  It  was  in  Adam  by  nature  ;  it  is  in  us  by  grace. 
It  was  created  in  Adam  ;  it  is  inspired  in  us.  He  received  it 
when  he  was  made  ;  we  receive  it  through  faith  in  the  Lord 


116  THE   BEATITUDE   OF   THE   PURE   IN   HEART. 

Jesus  Christ.  In  us  it  is  as  seed  cast  into  the  soil  of  the  pre- 
pared heart,  which  germinates,  and  buds,  and  unfolds  itself  in 
all  those  things  that  are  pure,  and  just,  and  honest,  and  lovely, 
and  of  good  report.  It  is  in  us  a  light  that  shineth  more  and 
more  within  the  lantern,  till  it  burst  through  its  limits,  and  " 
reach  the  splendor  of  the  perfect  day.  It  is  a  living  principle, 
ever  powerful,  ever  resisted,  yet  never  beaten;  growing  daily 
in  aspirations  and  likeness,  until  it  is  made  perfect  by  seeing 
Christ  as  he  is,  when  we  shall  be  like  him,  because  we  shall 
see  him  as  he  is. 

This  purity  of  heart  is  constantly  enjoined  in  Scripture. 
"  Be  ye  holy."  "  Chosen  in  Christ,  that  ye  should  be  holy." 
"  Christ  gave  himself  for  us,  that  he  might  purify  us  ;  "  liter- 
ally, "that  he  might  make  us  pure  in  heart."  Thus,  the 
objection  made  to  Christianity,  that  our  being  saved  by  some- 
thing done  for  us  must  necessarily  lead  to  our  doing  nothing 
ourselves,  is  wholly  removed  by  the  mere  perusal  of  the  bene- 
dictions in  this  chapter,  which  show  that  while  we  are  justified 
by  a  righteousness  without,  we  are,  if  so  justified,  ever  inspired 
and  characterized  by  meekness,  purity,  and  hungering  after 
righteousness,  within. 

This  purity  which  is  in  the  heart  of  the  believer  is  true 
beauty  :  it  is  lasting  ornament.  It  adds  new  grandeur  to  the 
prince,  and  royal  beauty  to  the  humblest  peasant,  till  Solo- 
mon, in  all  his  glory,  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the  meanest 
follower  of  the  Lamb,  who  has  purity  of  heart,  and  the  promise 
of  seeing  God. 

Such  purity  of  heart  is  regarded  in  Scripture  constantly  as 
a  qualification  for  heaven.  It  is  said,  "  Nothing  that  defileth 
shall  enter  there."  The  inheritance  is  "  incorruptible,  unde- 
filed ;  "  therefore,  incorruptible  and  undefiled  characters  shall 
remain  possessors  of  it.  Holiness  is  the  delight  of  the  heirs 
of  heaven,  the  air  of  heaven,  the  sunshine  of  its  courts,  the 


THE    BEATITUDE    OF    HIE    PUKE   IN   HEART.  117 

inspiration  of  every  heart  that  beats  and  Ijounds  amid  the 
choirs  of  the  blessed. 

The  Author  of  this  purity  of  heart  is  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
God.  Christ's  work  is  without  us  :  the  Spirit's  work  is  within 
us.  As  soon  as  we  are  justified  by  a  righteousness  that  Christ 
is,  we  instantly  come  under  a  process  of  sanctification,  which 
the  Holy  Spirit  gives.  In  that  admirable  formulary,  the 
Shorter  Catechism,  we  read,  "  Justification  is  an  act  of  God's 
grace,  but  sanctification  is  a  work  of  God's  Spirit."  The  first 
is  something  done  at  once  ;  the  second  is  something  that  be- 
gins with  little,  and  advances  day  by  day,  like  the  shining 
light,  until  the  clean  thing  is  brought  out  of  the  unclean,  and 
the  old  man  dies  before  the  growing  life  of  the  new,  and  the 
eternal  absorbs  the  present. 

The  seat  of  this  pui'ity  is  the  heart.  A  pure  heart  seems 
to  be  in  our  moral  economy  what  a  healthy  heart  is  in  our 
physical  economy.  Let  the  heart  be  physically  diseased,  and 
the  whole  system  is  deranged.  Let  the  heart  be  morally 
tainted,  and  the  whole  conduct  will  be  tortuous,  having  lost  its 
true  polarity,  its  right  momentum,  and  perfect  balance.  The 
seat  of  this  purity  is  the  heart ;  and  as  sure  as  it  is  in  the 
heart,  it  will  be  in  the  life.  As  sure  as  the  heart  sends  forth 
with  gigantic  force  the  blood  that  it  receives  through  all  the 
arteries  of  the  human  body,  and  effloresces  in  health  on  the  - 
countenance,  and  shows  itself  in  vigor  in  the  limbs,  and  cannot 
but  be  seen,  felt,  and  known  ;  so  purity  in  the  heart  will  send 
out  its  purifying  tide  into  all  the  ducts  and  arteries  of  our 
moral  economy,  till  men  take  notice  of  us,  aiM  see  that  we  are 
the  subjects  of  a  power  that  is  from  above,  and  will  give  glory 
to  our  Father  in  heaven.  Expediency,  self-interest,  and  the 
praise  of  men,  may  help  a  person  to  restrain  a  great  many  of 
his  bad  propensities ;  but  he  will  restrain  them  under  such 
influences  exactly  as  a  man  keeps  in  his  breath  under  water, 
doing  what  is  most  imnatural,  unpleasant,  and  what  can  only 


118  THE   BEATITUDE   OF   THE   PURE   IN   HEART. 

last  wliile  the  necessity  requires  it.  But  when  a  man's  char- 
acter is  moulded  by  an  influence  db  intra,  by  a  power  whose 
seat  is  the  heart,  and  whose  field  is  the  whole  moral  character, 
it  is  persistent  and  full  of  proportion ;  wherever  he  is  seen, 
and  under  whatever  circumstances,  he  is  the  same.  A  true 
Christian  is  like  an  anagram ;  whichever  way  you  read  him,  — 
up,  down,  right,  left,  —  you  can  always  read  one  thing,  the 
name  of  his  blessed  Master.  See  him  at  whatever  angle, 
detect  him  in  any  circumstances,  a  Christian  who  has  his 
heart  right  will  have  his  conduct  holy.  Wherever  the  inner 
man  is  right,  there  will  be  seen  great  simplicity  of  character. 
Wherever  you  see  the  face  elongated  in  order  to  seem  serious, 
and  hear  in  the  voice  a  sort  of  whine,  you  must  judge,  if  you 
venture  to  judge  at  all,  unfavorably.  True  Christian  charac- 
ter is  simple,  unaffected,  sincere.  A  true  Christian  does  not 
feel  that  there  is  any  virtue  in  a  sad  countenance,  and  he  does 
not  believe  there  is  any  sin  in  a  bright  and  merry  one.  He 
feels  that  it  is  at  least  as  Christian  to  be  joyful  as  to  be  sad ; 
and  certainly  that  it  is  not  Christian  to  seem,  or  try  to  be, 
what  he  is  not.  He  acts  no  part.  He  seems  just  what  he  is. 
This  purity,  of  heart,  thus  inspired,  will  show  itself  always, 
as  I  have  already  stated,  in  the  outer  life.  It  will  make  good 
actions,  that  were  done  under  other  influences,  to  be  nobler, 
purer,  and  grander ;  so  that  what  the  natural  man  is  it  will 
inspire  and  make  more  beautiful ;  and  it  will  add  to  the 
natural  man  that  which  he  has  not,  new  and  nobler  graces, 
that  blossom  only  upon  the  tree  of  life,  and  grow  and  ripen 
in  the  air,  and  *amid  the  sunshine  of  the  paradise  of  God. 
Purity  within,  there  will  be  exemplariness  without.  The  man 
is  Christian  in  his  heart ;  and,  therefore,  he  cannot  help  ap- 
pearing Christian  in  his  life.  His  Christianity  is  not  a  coat 
put  on,  but  an  influence  streaming  from  within.  Herein  is 
the  difference  between  the  hypocrite,  or  the  worldly  man,  and 
the  true  Christian.     The  hypocrite  puts  on,  as  the  word  liter- 


TILE   BEATITUDE    OF    THE    PUKE   IK    HBALT.  119 

ally  means,  a  mask ;  and  in  that  mask  the  old  man  looks 
new.  The  true  Christian  puts  on  no  mask,  but  just  lives 
exactly  as  a  new  and  divine  instinct  prompts  him,  and  he 
lives  truly,  and  justly,  and  purely,  before  God  and  before  man. 
The  Christian  abstains  not  only  from  dishonesty,  but  from 
covetousness ;  not  only  from  impure  acts,  but  from  impure 
thoughts ;  not  only  from  murder,  but  from  letting  the  sun  go 
down  upon  his  wrath,  or  being  angTy  with  his  brother  without 
a  cause. 

This  purity  of  heart  will  show  itself  in  seeking  to  be  gov- 
erned by  a  sense  of  God's  presence,  of  duty  and  obligation  to 
him,  and  by  nothing  else.  The  care  of  such  a  one  will  be, 
How  do  I  look  in  God's  sight  ?  and  he  will  not  trouble  him- 
self about  how  he  looks  in  man's  sight ;  because  he  is  always 
sure  that,  if  he  be  right  in  his  heart  in  the  sight  of  God,  his 
conduct  never  can  go  very  far  wrong.  The  man  who  has  no 
purity  of  heart,  and  yet  desires  the  credit  of  having  it,  has  a 
great  deal  of  trouble,  and,  after  all,  very  little  success.  He 
has  to  adjust  his  robes,  to  tune  his  words,  to  arrange  the  very 
features  of  his  face  :  he  is  constantly  tortured  by  adapting 
himself  to  circumstances ;  fearing  he  may  fail  there,  and  be 
detected  here,  and  thankful  if  he  succeed  at  all.  But  the 
man  who  has  his  heart  right  does  not  trouble  himself  about 
all  this  :  he  just  speaks  out  what  is  natural ;  he  lives  and 
does  what  is  perfectly  unaffected  ;  and  all  these  things,  liable, 
it  may  be,  to  momentary  misconstruction  by  men,  are  yet  sure 
to  turn  out,  in  the  long  run,  pure  and  beautiful  and  right ; 
because  they  are  done  from  an  inspiration  in  itself  pure.  He 
is  pure  in  heart,  and  therefore  his  conduct  will  be  pure  in  the 
sight  of  men. 

This  purity  of  heart  —  and  I.  give  this  as  a  criterion  by 
which  we  may  test  our  own  state  —  will  ever  be  ready  to 
disclose  itself  to  God  in  prayer.  The  man  who  is  not  really 
in  earnest  to  have  a  clean  heart  will  never  go  into   God's 


120  THE   BEATITUDE   OF   THE   PURE   IN    HEART. 

presence,  when  there  is  no  ear  but  God's  to  hear,  and  say, 
"  Search  me,  0  God,  and  know  my  thoughts,  and  see  if  there 
be  any  wicked  way  in  me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlast- 
ing." He  who  is  not  bent  on  the  attainment  of  this  grace 
will  never  venture  to  pray  in  private,  "  Create  in  me  a  clean 
heart,  0  God;"  that  is,  "Make  me  pure  in  heart,  that  thy 
blessing  may  be  on  me,  and  that  the  sight  of  thee  may  be 
my  reward."  He  does  not  want  to  see  God.  Such  a  one 
will  never  say,  "  Thou  desirest  truth  in  the  inward  parts ; 
cleanse  thou  me  from  secret  faults."  He  who  can  earnestly 
and  truly,  from  the  very  depth  of  his  soul,  so  pray,  when  no 
ear  hears  but  God's,  has  what  he  prays  for ;  for  the  desire 
in  prayer  —  earnest  and  real  —  of  purity  of  heart  is  already 
the  possession,  in  fact,  of  purity  of  heart. 

Such  a  one  will  not  regard,  in  the  language  of  the  Psalmist, 
iniquity  in  his  heart,  —  "  If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart, 
the  Lord  will  not  hear  me;"  — that  is,  he  will  not  cherish  in 
his  heart  a  thought  that  ought  not  to  be  there.  A  lodger 
that  belongs  not  to  the  sanctuary  of  God  will  intrude  inad- 
vertently into  the  purest  heart ;  but  the  heart,  like  the  sleep- 
less Levite,  the  instant  it  detects  this  stranger,  will  expel 
him  ;  whereas  an  impure  heart,  on  receiving  into  it  an  impure 
imagination,  will  entertain  it  as  a  friend,  give  it  hospitality 
and  welcome,  and  find  delight  and  enjoj'-ment  in  turning  it 
round  and  round,  and  meditating  upon  it.  The  pure  heart 
will  shrink  from  a  sinful  thought,  just  as  the  sensitive  nerve 
will  shrink  from  the  prick  of  a  pin.  They  cannot  always 
avoid  it,  but  they  will  not  cherish  it.  The  pure  in  heart  will 
not  regard  —  that  is,  cherish  or  keep  —  iniquity  in  their 
heart.  It  will  never  make  provision  for  the  flesh  to  fulfil  the 
lusts  thereof. 

There  is  no  heart  so  pure  that  sinful  thoughts  will  not  rise 
in  it.  Nay,  it  is  just  on  the  purest  heart  that  the  devil  will 
make  the  strongest  assault.     When  you  have  walked  in  a 


THE  BEATITUDE  OF  TUE  PURE  IN  HEART.       121 

garden,  have  you  never  noticed  that  it  is  always  the  choicest 
and  most  fragrant  fruit  that  is  first  insect-stung  ?  The  wasp 
■will  only  touch  the  ripest  and  most  beautiful  fruit.  It  is 
always  the  purest  heart  that  will  be  the  victim  of  the  first 
assault  of  sin,  Satan,  and  the  world.  But,  because  that  heart 
is  assailed  by  sin,  or  because  it  is  even  touched  by  it,  or 
because,  in  an  inadvertent  moment,  a  sinful  thought  finds 
a  lodgment  in  it,  you  do  not  therefore  evince  that  you  are 
not  a  child  of  God.  The  evidence  of  your  sonship  lies  in 
the  resistance  of  the  evil  that  is  alien,  and  in  your  thrusting 
out  the  impure  thought,  that,  if  cherished,  would  ultimately 
attain  domination,  and  carry  soul,  body  and  spirit,  with  it. 
Such  are  some  of  the  effects  of  this  purity  of  heart,  and  such 
are  some  of  the  best  criteria  of  its  possession. 

Now,  such  persons  are  blessed  —  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart."  That  means,  happy  are  the  pure  in  heart.  They  are 
happy  in  having  this  blessed  characteristic.  In  what  sense 
can  they  be  said  to  be  happy  in  this  respect  ?  In  the  first 
place,  they  are  freed  from  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  They  live 
and  act  as  they  feel  and  think.  The  hypocrite,  who  wishes 
to  have  an  outside  character  to  attain  outside  purposes,  has  a 
great  deal  of  trouble  in  adjusting  his  robes,  in  always  being 
on  the  watch,  in  always  acting  an  artificial,  a  constrained, 
and  mechanical  part.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  drudgery  in 
such  a  life ;  but  the  person  whose  heart  is  right  within  has 
no  such  trouble.  It  is  as  natural  for  him  to  do  justly  as  to 
breathe,  or  for  grass  to  grow  green.  It  is  as  natural  for  him 
to  follow  all  things  that  are  just,  and  honest,  and  lovely,  and 
of  good  report,  as  to  live.  He  takes  no  trouble  about  his 
outer  walk :  for  he  is  sure  it  will  be  right,  if  he  only  take 
great  trouble  about  his  inner  character,  praying  God  to  keep 
pure  the  flame  that  burns  within,  and  to  preserve  him  ever  in 
the  possession  of  a  pure  heart,  which  has  as  its  fruitage  and 
its  flower  a  pure  and  a  holy  life. 
11 


122  THE   BEATITUDE   OF    THE   PURE   IN   HEART. 

Sucli  a  one  has  happiness,  because  he  has  one  of  the  evi 
dences  of  being  amongst  the  people  of  God.  ''  God  is  good 
to  Israel,  to  such  as  are  of  a  clean  heart."  I  know  no 
greater  evidence  that  you  belong  to  God,  than  that  jou  hate 
what  he  hates,  love  what  he  loves,  and  that  your  heart  gives 
hospitality  to  all  that  is  pure,  and  rejects,  the  instant  it 
detects  it,  the  presence  and  the  pollution  of  all  that  is 
impure. 

The  pure  in  heart  are  happy,  because  to  them  all  things 
are  pure.  Not  sin  is  pure,  but  all  things  that  in  themselves 
are  innocent  are  to  the  pure  in  heart  perfectly  pure.  Their 
estate  and  the  loss  of  it,  their  prosperity  and  their  adversity, 
their  illness  and  their  health,  all  that  comes  in  providence, 
comes  to  them  from  God,  is  received  by  them  as  such,  and  is 
enjoyed  by  them,  —  if  prosperity,  thankftilly,  and  if  adver- 
sity, endured  by  them  patiently, —  for  Christ's  sake. 

Such  a  one's  heart  is  the  temple  of  God.  It  has  a  conse- 
cration no  episcopal  hands  can  bestow,  a  sanction  no  human 
authority  can  communicate.  It  is  made  pure,  not  ceremo- 
nially, not  ecclesiastically,  not  Levitically,  but  morally  and 
spiritually,  —  that  is,  really  by  God  himself,  —  and  in  such 
God  dwells. 

But  the  benediction  is  not  only  for  the  present ;  it  is 
specially  in  the  future.  The  present  benediction  is  the  earnest 
and  foretaste  of  the  full  harvest  of  benediction  that  is  to 
come.  Such,  it  is  said,  "  shall  see  God."  "  Faith,"  we  are 
told,  "  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of 
things  not  seen."  Wherever,  therefore,  there  is  faith,  —  and 
it  is  faith  that  purifieth  the  heart ;  for  faith  "  worketh  by 
love,"  and,  adds  the  apostle,  it  "  purifieth  the  heart," — there 
is  the  evidence  of  what  the  world  does  not  see ;  for  God  no 
man  hath  seen,  nor  can  see :  and  they  shall  therefore  see 
God.  They  shall  see  him  first  in  this  life,  and  they  shall  see 
him  perfectly  and  fully  in  the  life  to  come.     They  shall  see 


THE  BEATITUDE  OF  THE  PURE  IN  HEART.       123 

God  In  life's  trials.  Truly  it  is  consolation  to  sec  God  in  the 
hurricane  that  sweeps  away  all  the  property  our  industry  has 
amassed  !  What  consolation  is  it  to  see  God  in  that  sickness 
that  befalls  us,  in  that  sorrow  that  breaks  the  heart,  in  the 
trial  all  of  whose  waves  and  billows  pass  over  us  !  Is  it  no 
consolation  to  see  that  all  these  are  from  our  Father,  —  are 
chastisement,  not  judgment,  —  not  penal,  but  paternal,  and 
are  working  for  good  to  the  subject  of  them  ?  "  Though  no 
tribulation  for  the  present  seemeth  joyous,  but  rather  grievous, 
yet  it  worketh  out  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness  to 
them  that  are  exercised  thereby."  In  other  words,  the  pure 
in  heart  shall  see  that  affliction  comes  not  from  the  grouna, 
but  is  the  distribution  of  his  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 

The  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God  also  in  life's  prosper- 
ity. It  is  often  luore  difficult  to  see  God  in  prosperity 
than  in  adversity.  It  is  a  strange  fact,  and  it  indicates  a 
disordered  state  on  our  part,  that  when  God  smites  we  see 
and  recognize  his  hand,  but  when  God  blesses  we  are  prone 
to  see  and  recognize  only  our  own  fortunate  exertions.  But 
the  pure  in  heart  see  God  in  their  trials,  and  are  patient, 
while  they  pray  to  him ;  they  see  God  in  the  sunshine  of 
their  prosperity,  thank  him,  and  give  him  all  the  praise  and 
glory. 

The  pure  in  heart  also  see  God  in  all  his  providential 
dealings.  Whatever  happens  to  a  nation,  a  dynasty,  a  capi- 
tal, they  see  God  in  it.  In  other  words,  they  have  got  out 
of  the  region  of  chance,  where  all  is  chaos,  because  all  is 
accident ;  and  they  have  got  into  the  region  of  order,  where 
God  is  working  out  his  grand  designs  by  means  and  mechan- 
ism often  inexplicable  to  us,  but  ever  successful,  because 
wielded  by  him. 

The  pure  in  heart  will  also  see  God  in  all  creation.  When 
we  go  forth  to  the  country,  and  look  upon  its  varied  magnifi- 
cence and  beauty,  it  is  surely  a  delightful  reflection  that  a 


124  THE   BEATITUDE   OF   THE   PURE   IN   HEART. 

Christian's  heart  will  not  be  a  stranger  to,  "  My  Father  made 
them  all."  The  tendency  of  the  scientific  man  is  to  investigate 
nature,  and  stop  after  he  has  found  her  laws.  The  tendency 
of  the  natural  man,  who  is  not  a  scientific  man,  is  to  look  at 
nature,  and  merely  admire,  and  be  charmed  and  delighted. 
But  the  Christian,  who  is  pure  in  heart,  who  has  the  film 
taken  from  his  eyes  and  the  distorting  passion  from  his  heart, 
will,  in  the  least  and  the  loftiest  thing,  —  in  the  hyssop  that 
groweth  out  of  the  wall,  and  in  the  oak  that  is  centuries  old, 
in  the  bee  upon  its  wing,  and  in  the  leviathan  that  sports  in 
the  deep,  in  all  things  exquisitely  minute,  in  all  things  mag- 
nificently great,  in  all  heights  and  depths,  in  flower,  fruit, 
field,  star,  sun,  and  moon, — trace  the  workmanship  and  see 
the  footprints  of  his  Father,  and  give  him  the  praise  as  the 
creator  and  governor  of  all. 

The  pure  in  heart  will  also  see  God  specially  and  primarily 
in  the  sacred  page.  When  he  opens  his  Bible,  the  natural 
man  reads  Paul's  writing;  the  Christian  sees  through  the 
veil,  and  reads  God's  mind.  When  the  natural  man  opens 
the  Bible,  he  sees  eloquence,  poetry,  history ;  but  the  Chris- 
tian penetrates  all  these,  the  mere  wrappage,  the  outer  and 
beautiful  shell,  and  sees  and  hears  God,  and,  standing  in  the 
Rock,  he  beholds  all  his  glory  sweep  past  him —  "  The  Lord 
God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long-sufiering,  abundant  in  good- 
ness and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  ini- 
quity, transgression,  and  sin." 

The  pure  in  heart  will  also  see  God  in  ordinances.  In 
baptism  he  will  not  see  regeneration  as  a  process  accom- 
plished by  water,  but  he  will  see  the  pledge  and  the  seal  that 
God  will  regenerate  its  subject,  on  that  subject  exercising 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  repentance  towards  God.  At  a 
communion-table  the  pure  in  heart  will  not  see  the  bread 
turned  into  the  flesh  or  the  wine  into  the  blood  of  the  Son 
of  man,  but  they  will  behold  in  these  symbols  the  pledges, 


THE  BEATITUDE  OF  THE  PURE  IN  HEART.       125 

seals  and  credentials,  that  Christ  was ;  and  the  prophecies,  or, 
rather,  the  prophets,  that  Christ  will  come  again ;  for  he  who 
was  slain  for  us,  and  by  whose  blood  we  are  forgiven,  will 
come  to  us  in  glorj,  and  in  great  majesty,  and  on  his  throne 
we  shall  be  seated,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel. 

Thus,  wherever  there  is  purity  of  heart,  the  believer  will 
see  God  in  this  life.  Congeniality  of  character  is  requisite 
to  enable  one  to  appreciate  character.  The  benevolent  man 
alone  can  comprehend  true  benevolence.  The  patriot  alone 
can  appreciate  true  patriotism.  The  pure  alone  can  have 
that  delicate  instinct  which  enables  them  to  see  purity.  In 
other  words,  it  requires  not  merely  intellectual  height,  emi- 
nence and  power,  but,  still  more,  purity  of  heart,  to  enable 
one  to  see  a  pure  and  holy  God. 

But,  above  all,  the  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God  in  glory. 
"  Now,"  says  the  apostle,  "  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly ; 
but  then  face  to  face."  All  that  we  can  see  of  God  now  is 
mixed  with  imperfections,  clouds  and  shadows.  When 
astronomers  look  at  the  sun  through  a  telescope,  they  are 
obliged  to  look  through  smoked  glass,  because  the  intense 
splendor  of  the  meridian  sun  would  destroy  the  eye  that 
gazed  upon  it.  At  present  we  cannot  see  God  as  he  is  ;  we 
must  look  through  a  glass  darkly ;  that  is,  through  the  sacred 
page,  ordinances,  promises,  doctrines,  all  the  means  and  media 
that  he  has  appointed.  But  a  day  comes  when  the  glass  will 
be  broken,  and  the  smoke  shall  be  removed,  and  we  shall  see 
God  no  longer  through  the  darkened  or  shaded  glass,  but  face 
to  face.  Then  our  purity  of  heart  will  be  so  perfect  that  we 
shall  be  able  to  gaze  upon  the  noonday  splendor  of  that 
unsetting  Sun,  and  to  continue  to  gaze  on  him  with  perfect 
joy,  peace  and  repose. 

This  sight  of  God  which  we  shall  enjoy  in  the  future  will 
prove  a  transforming  one.  How  expressive  is  that  thought  I 
*  We  shall  be  like  him."  Why  ?  "  Because  we  shall  see 
11# 


126       THE  BEATITUDE  OP  THE  PURE  IN  HEART. 

him  as  he  is."  Our  justification  is  complete,  and  needs  no 
augmentation ;  but  our  inner  character  is  progi-essive ;  and 
in  many  of  us  it  is  far,  far  short  of  what  it  should  be.  But 
when  we  reach  that  "  bourn  from  whence  no  traveller  re- 
turns," when  we  appear  in  the  presence  of  God,  the  first  flash ' 
of  the  unutterable  glory  will  transform  by  its  touch  our 
imperfect  character  into  perfection,  and  we,  who  had  been 
advancing  slowly  and  with  staggering  steps  towards  Christ's 
likeness  here  below,  shall  then  and  there  be  transformed,  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  into  his  perfect  image.  "  We  shall 
be  like  him,  because  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is." 

This  sight  will  be  perfectly  satisfying.  There  is  no  satis- 
faction, everybody  knows,  to  be  gathered  upon  earth.  After 
wo  have  got  the  righteousness  we  hunger  for,  we  hunger  still. 
After  we  have  drunk  of  the  living  water,  we  thirst  yet  more. 
There  is  no  one  attainment  upon  earth  so  complete  that  it 
will  fill  the  almost  infinite  capacity  of  man's  soul.  It  is  the 
proof  of  man's  fall  that  he  gropes  for  satisfaction  upon 
earth ;  it  is  the  proof  of  man's  grandeur  that  he  can  never 
find  it.  Nothing  earthly  can  fill  the  vast  capacities  of  that 
great  soul  which  is  in  the  very  poorest,  lowliest  and  humblest, 
of  mankind.  The  Psalmist  makes  the  distinction  very  beauti- 
fully, "  Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee  ?  and  there  is  none 
upon  earth  I  desire  beside  thee."  Earth  is  the  place  of  de- 
sire ;  heaven  is  the  place  of  having,  or  perfect  possession. 
The  Psalmist  says  prophetically,  as  if  he  had  caught  in  all 
their  fulness  the  rays  of  the  future  glory,  "  I  shall  be  satis- 
fied when  I  awake  with  thy  likeness."  What  a  blessed 
thought  is  that,  that  those  yearnings  after  perfection  that 
every  Christian  is  conscious  of,  those  desires  and  longings 
after  a  beauty,  a  glory  and  a  repose,  that  grow  upon  no 
earthly  tree,  and  are  thrown  out  by  no  earthly  fountain,  shall 
all  be  satisfied,  and  fully  met,  where  there  is  no  more  want, 


TEE  BEATITUDE  OF  THE  TURE  IN  HEART.       127 

and  therefore  no  more  prayer,  but  full  having,  and  therefore 
everlasting  praise ! 

When  we  shall  see  God  as  he  is,  it  will  be  a  joyful  sight. 
"  We  shall  enter  into  joy."  *'  Thou  shalt  make  me  glad  with 
the  light  of  thy  countenance."  "  In  thy  presence  is  fulness  of 
joy."  "  Then  were  the  disciples  glad,  when  they  saw  the 
Lord."  And  if  it  be  true  of  us,  "  Whom  having  not  seen, 
we  love ;  in  whom,  though  now  we  see  him  not,  yet  believing 
we  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory ;"  if  the 
ebb-tide  of  our  joy  be  so  rich,  what  shall  the  rising  tide  be  ? 
If  the  earnest  be  so  delightful,  what  shall  the  full  harvest  be? 
Blessed,  indeed,  are  the  pure  in  heart  by  what,  and  from 
what,  they  are  able  to  see  now  ;  but  blessed  especially  are  the 
pure  in  heart  because  they  shall  see  God  in  all  his  glory,  and, 
in  the  light  of  God,  all  things,  the  mere  surface  of  which  we 
see  now,  the  very  essence  and  hidden  excellence  and  latent 
beauty  of  which  we  shall  see  then  as  clearly  as  we  are  now 
seen. 

Let  us  pray,  therefore,  that  our  hearts  may  be  made  clean 
within  us,  that  God  would  give  us  a  pure  heart,  that  we  may 
drink  from  this  fountain  of  true  felicity;  that,  seeing  God 
upon  earth  through  a  glass  darkly,  we  may  see  him  in  heaven, 
where  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is,  the  glory  and  perfection 
of  all! 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE   HAPPY   FAMILY. 

**  Soul,  couldst  thou  wliile  on  earth  remaining 
A  childlike  frame  be  still  retaining  1 
With  thee  ever  here,  I  know  full  well, 
God  and  his  Paradise  would  dwell. 

*'  0  childhood  !  well  beloved  of  heaven, 
"Whose  mind  to  Christ  alone  is  given. 
How  longs  my  heart  to  feel  like  thee  ! 
0,  Jesus  !  form  thyself  in  me. 

*'  Lord,  let  me,  while  on  earth  remaining. 
Such  childlike  frame  be  still  retaining  ; 
With  me  then  here,  I  know  full  well, 
God  and  his  paradise  will  dwell." 

"  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers  :  for  they  shall  be  called  the  children 
of  God."  —  Matthew  5  :  9. 

I  NOTICED,  in  tlie  course  of  previous  remarks,  that  the  sixth 
verse  of  the  fifth  chapter  of  Matthew  is  the  close  of  one 
series  of  features  on  each  of  which  a  benediction  is  pro- 
nounced by  our  Lord,  and  the  commencement  of  another 
series  of  graces  on  which  no  less  expressive  benedictions  are 
also  pronounced,  and  that  all  are  the  successive  links  in  one 
luminous  chain.  It  is  the  "poor  in  spirit  "who  "mourn" 
because  of  their  conscious  loss  of  those  things  which  consti- 
tute alike  the  repose  and  the  beauty  of  the  soul.  It  is  such 
as  "  hunger  and  thirst  after  a  righteousness "  they  feel  the 
loss  of,  and  desire  to  possess,  that,  having  obtained  that  right- 


THE   HAPPY   FAMILY.  129 

eousness,  bring  forth  the  fruits  developed  in  the  succeeding 
verses.  It  is  the  righteous,  who  have  found  mercy  to  them- 
selves, who  are  merciful  to  others.  The  merciful  are  also 
pure  in  heart.  The  pure  in  heart  seek  to  promote  peace 
between  man  and  man ;  and  are  thus  the  peacemakers,  who 
shall  be  called  the  children  of  God. 

These  are  the  words  of  the  great  Peacemaker  of  the  uni- 
verse. He  who  saw  what  its  loss  was  —  he  who  was  able 
alone  to  restore  it,  who  could  appreciate  its  beauty,  its  excel- 
lence and  its  worth — has  pronounced  the  benediction,  that  will 
not  be  exhausted  till  the  reign  of  universal  peace  overtakes 
the  world,  —  "Blessed  are  the  peacemakers:  for  they  shall 
be  called  the  children  of  God."  Peace  was  proclaimed  at  his 
birth.  He  is  called  "  the  Prince  of  peace."  It  is  the  pur- 
chase of  his  death. 

What  is  this  peace  ?  It  is  not  happiness  —  it  is  higher 
still.  It  is  not  joy  —  it  is  more  enduring.  Joy  is  the 
transient  meteor,  peace  is  the  permanent  light  of  noonday. 
Peace  is  the  silent  stream  that  comes  from  the  fountain  of 
Deity,  that  rolls  broadening  and  deepening  along  its  channels 
to  the  infinite  main.  Joy  is  a  summer  brook,  or  rather  the 
beams  that  sparkle  on  the  surface  of  the  great  stream,  and 
reveal  the  silent,  magnificent  and  peaceful  depths  that  are 
far  down  below.  It  is  defined  by  an  apostle  as  "  the  peace 
that  passeth  understanding." 

In  examining  the  character  of  the  -peacemaker^  let  us  first 
see  by  contrast  who  are  the  great  peacebreakers ;  and  when 
we  learn  who  these  are,  we  shall  best  appreciate  the  explana- 
tion who  the  other  is.  The  peacebreakers  are  not  individuals 
strictly  so  called,  but  rather  the  lusts  and  passions,  appetites 
and  desires,  that  take  possession  of  individual  hearts,  and, 
like  the  winds  that  beat  upon  the  vessel  that  has  lost  her 
helm,  drive  hither  and  thither,  and  whithersoever  they  will. 

The  first  peacebreaker  is  Selfishness.     A  selfish  man  can 


130  THE   HAPPY   FAMILY. 

never  be  a  peaceful  man.  He  cares  intensely  and  continually 
for  his  own  wants,  however  minute,  and  nothing  for  the  great- 
est distress  of  his  brother,  however  pressing.  He  seeks  his 
own  advantage;  and,  if  the  way  to  it  should  lead  through 
chaos,  amid  bloodshed,  or  universal  disquiet,  it  matters  not 
to  him.  His  object  is  to  gratify  himself,  and  he  is  prepared 
to  do  it  at  any  and  at  every  sacrifice. 

The  next  peacebreaker  is  the  Covetous  man.  He  thirsts 
to  fill  his  cofi'ers  with  the  riches  of  the  world.  California  is 
his  Eden,  and  gold  his  god.  He  sets  his  heart  upon  these  as 
being  the  chief  distinction  of  mankind ;  and  he  is  prepared 
and  ready  at  any  sacrifice  to  gratify  the  absorbing  thirst  for 
gold  that  ravins  constantly  within  him.  What  fills  our  cal- 
endars with  crime  ?  What  makes  our  courts  of  law  echo 
with  ceaseless  law-suits  ?  The  love  of  money.  What  has 
made  the  most  beautiful  and  fertile  fields  of  the  world  battle- 
fields, and  a  large  portion  of  the  earth  itself  an  Aceldama  ? 
That  inordinate  thirst  after  wealth,  which  is  the  most  litigious 
of  all  the  inmates  of  the  human  heart,  and  the  greatest  peace- 
breaker  with  which  we  are  acquainted  upon  earth. 

Perhaps  this  peacebreaker  is  eclipsed,  at  least  equalled,  by 
another,  —  Ambition.  What  is  Ambition  ?  It  is  not  a  thirst 
for  gold,  but  for  glory ;  still  a  thirst  reprobated  and  con- 
demned in  every  page  of  the  Gospel.  Ambition  was  person- 
ated in  Napoleon,  when  he  swept  through  broad  Europe  on 
untiring  pinion,  the  feature  of  all  whose  proclamations,  in 
contrast  with  those  of  a  hero  whose  dust  has  been  recently 
committed  to  the  house  appointed  for  all  living,  was  "  Grlory, 
Glory,"  from  beginning  to  end ;  whereas  it  was  noticed  by  a 
foreigner  that  in  all  Wellington's  dispatches  the  word  "  Duty" 
occurs  almost  in  every  page,  the  word  "Glory"  varely  or 
never.  What  has  caused  so  many  battles  ?  Ambition  on 
one  side,  very  frequently  on  both.     The  thirst  for  power,  for 


THE   HAPPY    FAMILY.  131 

aggrandizement  and  renown,  has  been  one  of  the  greatest 
peacebreakers  in  the  history  of  mankind. 

Another  peacebreaker  is  Revenge.  Anger  is  not  sinful ; 
but  when  it  degenerates,  or  rather  kindles  into  revenge,  then 
it  becomes  one  of  the  most  hateful  occupants  of  the  human 
heart.  It  is  letting  the  sun  go  down  upon  its  wrath.  It 
supposes  it  meets  with  insult  where  insult  may  not  have  been 
designed ;  and,  if  it  burn  in  an  individual  soul,  it  challenges 
to  a  duel ;  if  in  a  nation's  bosom,  it  instantly  provokes  or 
challenges  to  battle.  Hence,  revenge,  in  the  history  of  indi- 
viduals and  of  nations,  becomes  one  of  the  great  peacebreak- 
ers. It  also  is  branded  in  every  page  of  the  word  of  God  as 
giving  unequivocal  evidence  that  such  are  not  meet  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

Another  peacebreaker  is  Envy.  Wherever  envy  reigns, 
there  is  a  man  prepared  to  quarrel ;  and,  of  all  passions,  it  is 
the  most  contemptible.  Envy  is  not  a  desire  that  I  should 
be  blessed  or  benefited ;  but  that  my  brother  should  be 
dragged  down  from  his  eminence,  even  if  I  should  remain  on 
the  same  dead  level  to  which  I  would  reduce  him.  And, 
when  this  passion  gets  full  possession  of  the  human  heart,  its 
corroding  pain  within  and  its  calamitous  consequences  with- 
out are  too  frequently  seen ;  they  are  written  in  some  of  the 
darkest  pages  of  history. 

These  are  the  great  peacebreakers  in  the  midst  of  the 
world.  They  are  inmates  of  almost  every  heart,  in  lesser  or 
greater  intensity.  We  can  only  feel  a  thirst  for  universal 
peace,  and  delight  in  radiating  peace  around  every  sphere 
over  which  our  influence  extends,  in  proportion  as  all  the  evil 
lusts  and  passions  of  our  nature  —  self-love,  covetousness, 
envy,  and  ambition  —  are  extirpated,  and  all  the  graces  that 
build  up  and  beautify  the  new  man  are  planted  in  their  place. 

But  it  is  important  not  to  omit  that  every  man  who  at- 
tempts to  secure  peace  by  a  wrong  process  is,  perhaps,  uncon- 


132  THE    HAPPY    FAMILY. 

sciously  to  himself,  a  peacebreaker.  There  is  no  peace  that 
is  real,  except  it  be  based  on  principle.  There  is  no  true 
peace  separate  from  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  •'  The  wis- 
dom that  is  from  above  is  first  pure  ;  "  next,  or,  as  it  might 
be  justly  translated,  "  afterwards,  it  is  peaceable."  The  first  ■ 
benediction  is,  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart;  "  the  next 
benediction,  as  if  peace  were  the  blossom  that  grows  upon  the 
stem  of  purity,  is,  "  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers."  A  peace, 
therefore,  based  upon  untruth,  like  comfort  that  rises  from  a 
lie,  is  "  Peace,  peace,  when  there  is  no  peace  "  at  all.  Better 
the  disturbance  and  the  convulsions  of  our  social  system,  than 
a  peace  that  is  radically  deceptive,  and,  therefore,  not  endur- 
ing. In  the  case  of  nations,  whoever  attempts  to  secure 
universal  peace  by  any  unjust,  unscriptural,  or  even  politi- 
cally improper  means,  may  secure  a  temporary  truce,  but  not 
a  substantial  and  permanent  peace.  We  may  argue  the 
passions  into  quiet,  or  coerce  them  to  silence,  but  in  neither 
case  do  we  create  peace.  That  man  would  not  be  the  great 
and  true  advocate  of  a  lasting  national  peace  who  should 
propose  to  burn  the  navy,  and  to  disband  the  army.  Were 
such  a  proposition  mooted  even  by  the  most  gifted  and  elo- 
quent in  the  land,  nothing  but  the  rarest  charity  would  help 
one  to  believe  that  such  an  advocate  were  other  than  a 
traitor  to  his  country,  or  the  partisan  and  fomenter  of  war. 
The  true  way  to  prevent  national  war  is  to  be  prepared  for 
it.  War  is  a  stern  and  a  terrible  necessity,  but  still  often 
a  necessity ;  and,  until  that  time  when  nations  shall  be 
leavened  by  universal  truth,  and  their  hearts  shall  beat 
under  the  influence  of  universal  love,  there  will  be  spears, 
swords,  war ;  and  the  first  nation  that  lays  aside  the  means 
of  its  defence,  and  breaks  up  the  battlements  that  sur- 
round it,  will  first  fall  a  victim  to  the  more  powerful, 
ambitious  and  revengeful,  that  may  happen  to  be  nearest. 
Let  us  seek  to  promote  national  peace  by  promoting  and 


THE   HAPrY    FAMILY.  133 

spreading  in  all  hearts  and  homes,  beyond  the  waters  and 
on  this  side  of  them,  the  great  principles  that  generate 
peace  ;  but  let  us,  while  doing  so,  be  ready  to  repel  by  force 
the  aggressive  thief  who  would  steal  our  national  blessings, 
or  snatch  from  our  people  their  national  rights.  So  acting, 
we  conduct  ourselves  according  to  common  sense,  and,  surely, 
not  inconsistently  with  the  Gospel  of  Jesus.  Our  religion  is 
the  message  of  peace,  but  a  peace  not  to  be  secured  by  sinful 
diplomacy,  or  by  breaking  up  all  that  defends  society.  It  is 
to  spread,  grow  and  deepen,  in  the  ratio  in  which  the  Chris- 
tianity out  of  whose  bosom  it  rises  is  spread  and  deepened 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Let  us  never  forget  that 
there  can  be  no  peace  amid  nations  or  individuals,  except  it 
be  preceded  by,  and  based  on,  the  truth,  the  love,  the  belief, 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus. 

He,  however,  I  notice  in  the  next  place,  is  not  to  be  called 
a  peacebreaker,  who  contends,  and  that  earnestly,  for  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  Many  think  that  the  man 
who  advocates  controversy  against  error  cannot  be  the  advo- 
cate of  peace,  or  have  his  name  recorded  amid  the  peace- 
makers of  the  earth.  It  is  not  so.  He  who  contends  for 
truth  may  have  the  most  loving  heart ;  and  the  very  zeal 
with  which  he  beats  back  the  error  that  would  betray  the 
truth,  and  with  which  he  advocates  the  truth  that  leads  to 
peace,  may  be  just  the  measure  of  the  deep  and  fervid  attach- 
ment that  he  feels  to  the  maintenance  of  real  and  enduring 
peace.  There  can  be  no  peace  unless  there  be  truth.  A 
peace  based  upon  a  falsehood  is  no  peace.  The  Spirit  of  God 
is  first  the  spirit  of  truth ;  then  he  is  the  spirit  of  peace. 
He  is  first  the  teacher ;  he  is  next  the  comforter.  And  the 
quiet  that  the  advocate  of  truth  breaks  is  more  than  compen- 
sated by  the  peace  that  the  establishment  of  truth  secures. 
Truth  blossoms  into  peace,  as  a  tree  leafs  itself  in  April.  It 
is  its  nature.  The  real  peacebreakers  are  the  lusts  and  pas- 
12 


134  THE    HxiPPY    FAMILY 

sions  of  the  human  heart.  The  apostle  has  explained  it  when 
he  says,  *'  From  whence  come  wars  and  fightings  among  you? 
come  they  not  hence,  even  of  your  Justs  that  war  ?  "  These 
passions  within  are  the  seedsmen  of  discord,  the  true  disturb- 
ers of  society ;  and,  until  we  hear  that  all  surrounding  nations . 
have  in  their  hearts  the  peace  that  passeth  understanding,  we 
cannot  expect  that  they  will  cease  to  envy  superior  blessings, 
or  fail,  when  they  have  the  power,  to  assail  their  possessors, 
and  try  to  rob  them  of  them. 

Having  seen  who  are  the  peacebreakers,  let  me  notice,  in 
the  next  place,  who  are  the  peacemakers.  The  statement  I 
have  made  will  already  have  suggested  the  obvious  con- 
trast. The  first  peacemaker  of  all,  in  the  human  heart,  is 
Love.  Wherever  there  is  love  to  God  and  man,  not  feigned, 
but  fervent,  there  will  be  a  desire  to  promote  the  reign  of 
universal  peace.  This  love  "  seeketh  not  her  own  ;  "  is,  there- 
fore, not  selfish  ;  "  beareth  all  things ;  believeth  all  things  ; 
hopeth  all  things;  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in 
the  truth  ;  envieth  not ;  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly ;  suf- 
fereth  long,  and  is  kind;  is  not  puffed  up."  Where  such  love 
dwells  in  the  human  heart,  there  embosoms  it  an  atmosphere 
of  peace,  and  the  heart  becomes,  like  the  inhabitant  that  is 
within  it,  a  peacemaker. 

Another  peacemaker  upon  earth  is  Humility.  This  is  one 
of  the  very  first  graces  that  the  grace  of  Grod  inspires  in  a 
Christian's  heart.  When  we  know  ourselves  as  we  are,  and 
see  ourselves  in  the  light  of  God,  we  learn  to  lie  low  in  the 
dust,  to  think  others  better  than  ourselves,  and  to  wonder 
that  so  great  grace  has  been  manifested  by  God  to  us  so 
unworthy.  When  one  thus  feels  humbled  in  the  sight  of  God, 
he  will  show  himself  most  tender,  most  unselfish,  in  the  sight 
of,  and  in  his  relationships  to,  man.  He  feels  that  his  own 
place  is  larger  than  he  deserves  ;  his  own  fame  much  louder 
than  he  merits ;  his  own  blessings  far  richer  than  he  ever 


THE    IIArPY    FAMILY.  135 

dreamed  of;  and  he  will  be  so  overwhelmed  by  the  sight  of 
the  good  things  that  he  has,  and  a  sense  of  the  demerit  that 
was  before  and  is  still  under  them,  that  he  will  have  no  time 
to  pick  quarrels  with  a  brother.  He  rejoices  at  the  prosper- 
ity of  every  one  who  he  thinks  is  better  than  himself,  and  of 
whom  he  can  only  entertain  the  most  charitable  and  kindly 
apprehensions. 

Another  peacemaker  is  Liberality  and  generosity  of  heart, 
partly  the  inheritance  of  nature,  partly  the  implantation  of 
grace.  There  are  some  men  born  with  noble,  warm  and 
generous  hearts,  who  would  not  think  a  mean  thing,  and 
would  not  dare  to  do  a  little  thing, — men  who  feel  joy  in 
doing  what  is  good,  liberal  and  kind ;  and  such  a  grace  we 
appreciate.  All  we  say  is,  that  it  is  not  enough  to  qualify 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Except  even  such  a  one  "be 
born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  But  when 
the  grace  of  Grod  has  inspired  the  human  heart,  and  revealed 
the  distance  of  realms  above,  and  shown  the  depths  of  peril 
below,  we  learn  to  have  that  deep  and  comprehensive  charity, 
which  indulges  not  in  gratifying  itself,  but  expends  its  ener- 
gies in  making  happy  all  that  are  around  us.  It  never  ven- 
tures to  think  meanly  of  any ;  it  hopes  the  best  of  all ;  it 
refuses  to  ]3ut  a  bad  construction  upon  an  action  that  can, 
seen  at  any  angle,  or  in  any  light,  be  thought  capable  of  a 
good,  kind,  and  generous  one. 

Another  peacemaker  is  a  Forgiving  Spirit ;  and,  wherever 
this  forgiving  spirit  is,  there  is  that  which  nips  a  quarrel  in 
its  bud,  which  quenches  anger  just  before  it  bursts  into  the 
blaze  of  revenge.  We  feel  how  much  the  Master  has  for- 
given us,  and  we  cannot  take  our  fellow-servant  by  the 
throat,  and  say,  "  Pay  that  thou  owest."  It  is  in  proportion 
as  we  feel  much  has  been  forgiven,  that  we  love  much  ;  and, 
seeing  how  little  we  deserve  ourselves,  that  we  are  ever  ready 
and  prepared  to  make  excuses  for  the  offences  of  others,  and 


136  THE   HAPPY   FAMILY. 

to  forgive  them  their  trespasses,  even  as  our  Father  in  heaven 
hath  forgiven  us  ours. 

Having  thus  noticed  who  are  the  peacebreakers,  and, 
secondly,  who  are  the  peacemakers,  let  me  recount  some  of 
the  blessings  of  peace,  or  rather  those  characteristic  excel-- 
lences  of  it  which  are  inducements  to  our  pursuit  of  it.  The 
prescription  of  an  apostle  is,  "  As  much  as  lieth  in  you,  live 
peaceably  with  all  men;  "  —  "If  it  be  possible,  follow  peace 
with  all  men."  There  must  be  something  beautiful  in  a 
grace  that  the  apostle  commands  us  to  follow,  and,  if  it  be 
possible,  with  all  men,  and  with  all  our  might. 

This  peace  of  the  Gospel  is  social  strength.  In  solitude 
man  needs  assistance ;  in  a  disorganized  society  man  exer- 
cises resistance ;  but  in  a  Christian  state  peace  is  earnestly 
cultivated,  and  by  a  Christian  heart  it  is  instantly  pursued. 
When  possessed,  it  keeps  the  heart  and  mind  continually, 
and  binds  all  the  aflfections  into  one  happy  bundle.  A  king- 
dom divided  against  itself  bristles  at  all  points  with  antago- 
nisms, and  must  come  to  naught ;  but  a  kingdom  at  peace  with 
itself  has  the  element  of  enduring  strength,  and  the  prospect 
of  a  ceaseless  and  glorious  progress.  There  must,  however, 
be  in  this  consolidation  of  a  kingdom  at  peace  the  basis  of  the 
all-pervading  element  of  truth.  Union  without  truth  is 
conspiracy,  union  only  in  truth  is  a  definition  of  the  kingdom 
of  God.  Exhaust  a  body  knit  together  of  the  elements  of 
truth,  and  it  remains  a  grand  conspiracy  ;  but  let  peace 
evolve  from  the  possession  of  truth,  and  then  you  have  the 
type  and  likeness  upon  earth  of  the  kingdom  of  the  blessed 
in  glory. 

In  the  second  place,  wherever  there  is  peace  in  a  church, 
for  instance,  there  is  always  missionary  strength.  Wherever 
a  church  is  rent  and  torn  by  intestine  feuds,  much  of  its 
energy  is  dissipated  in  its  own  quarrels,  and  it  has  little  to 
spare  for  foreign  successful  missionary  aggression.     There- 


THE   HAPPY    FAMILY.  137 

fore  much,  of  the  state  of  tlie  heathen  that  are  around  us, 
much  of  the  obstinate  unbelief  of  the  Jew,  much  of  the 
bigoted  and  exclusive  superstition  of  the  Romanist,  are  owing, 
not  to  the  inveteracy  of  their  own  errors,  but  to  the  disputes, 
divisions  and  distractions,  of  Chi-istendom  itself.  If  Chris- 
tians were  what  they  should  be,  brethren  feeling  to  each  love, 
as  we  hope  they  are  in  another  relationship,  children  feeling 
to  God  as  a  Father,  then  the  world  would  receive  an  impres- 
sion from  the  spectacle,  that,  under  God,  would  be  overruled  to 
the  conversion  of  thousands  who  are  in  darkness  and  in  the 
shadow  of  death.  But  let  the  church  of  Christ  know  that 
peace  is  not  to  be  promoted  in  it  by  management — that  has 
been  tried ;  nor  by  committee-room  diplomacy ;  nor  by  a  sort 
of  effort  to  conceal  or  momentarily  merge  our  differences. 
There  can  be  secured  lasting  peace  only  by  each  Christian 
looking  less  and  less  at  the  microscopic  points  in  which  we 
differ,  and  more  and  more  at  the  majestic  ones  that  constitute 
the  harmony  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Our  real  agreement 
is  ovei-whelmingiy  great ;  the  reasons  of  our  differences  are 
exceedingly  microscopic ;  and  if  we  had  less  ill-will,  hatred, 
malice,  and  all  uncharitableness,  we  should  not  so  magnify 
them  as  we  are  commonly  very  apt  to  do.  Let  the  church 
know  that  to  be  insuperable  it  must  be  inseparable.  The 
bundle  of  arrows  could  not  be  broken  whilst  they  were  held 
all  together ;  but  when  the  thread  was  cut,  they  were  soon  sin- 
gly broken  to  pieces.  What  a  pity  that  there  is  not  a  little 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  world  mingled  with  the  feeling  and  the 
conduct  of  the  church  of  Christ ;  and  that  the  fear  of  ruin 
does  not  in  some  measure  increase  that  harmony  and  good-will 
which  the  grace  of  God  in  the  heart  ought  richly  to  produce  ! 
Peace  is  not  only  missionary  strength,  but  it  is  in  itself 
beautiful.  There  is  something  in  a  state  of  peace  picturesque 
and  lovely.  Men  are  so  constituted  that  they  derive  sensa- 
tions of  delight  from  the  harmony  of  sweet  sounds,  from  the 
12# 


138  THE    HAPPY   FAMILY. 

blending  together  of  exquisite  coloring,  from  the  steam-ship 
moving  quietly  on  its  track,  from  machinery  in  full  and  har- 
monious play,  and  yet  without  noise.  All  these  things,  which 
are  harmony,  or  unison,  or  whatever  they  may  be  called,  and 
so  indicate  peace  and  order,  create  sensations  of  delight,  and 
an  apj)rehension  or  sense  of  beauty  in  the  spectator.  Hence, 
the  Psalmist,  actuated  by  such  feelings,  exclaims,  "  Behold, 
how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together 
in  unity !  It  is  like  the  precious  ointment  upon  the  head, 
that  ran  down  upon  the  beard,  even  Aaron's  beard :  that 
went  down  to  the  skirts  of  his  garments ;  as  the  dew  of  Her- 
mon,  and  as  the  dew  that  descended  upon  the  mountains  of 
Zion  :  for  there  "  —  where  such  peace  and  unity  exist  —  "  the 
Lord  commands  his  blessing,  even  life  forevermore." 

Whenever  there  is  peace  in  the  Christian  church,  there  is 
put  forth  an  attraction  to  Christ,  that  the  most  thoughtless 
must  admire,  if  they  can  withstand.  Our  best  missionary 
efforts  are  not  so  much  what  we  directly  do,  as  what  we  in- 
directly are.  The  most  effective  missionary  is  a  holy  and  a 
Christian  life.  He  who  lives  as  Christ  lived  sends  forth  an 
influence  on  his  home,  his  servants,  his  friends,  his  neighbor- 
hood, that  is  proselyting  when  he  sleeps,  and  that  will  pros- 
elyte when  his  dead  dust  lies  beneath  the  green  sod.  It  is 
character  that  is  contagious.  Life  is  more  missionary  than 
lips.  It  is  an  exemplification  of  the  peace,  the  purity,  the 
piety  of  the  Gospel,  that  makes  most  rapidly  converts.  A 
quarrelsome  man  repels  from  self,  and  all  he  touches.  A  man 
of  peace,  and  the  peace,  above  all,  that  is  based  on  truth,  at- 
tracts others  to  him,  and  makes  them  also  inquire  from  what 
fountain  this  stream  is  fed,  from  what  source  he  fills  his  urn  ; 
and,  at  last,  on  discovering  it,  they  go  and  hear  Jesus,  and 
believe,  not  because  of  his  testimony,  but  because  they  have 
heard  themselves. 

God — Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  —  is  represented  as  the 


THE    HAPPY    FAMILY.  139 

God  of  peace.  It  is  a  singular  and  suggestive  contrast,  that 
in  the  Old  Testament  God  is  most  frequently  represented  in 
the  imagery  of  war,  in  the  New  Testament  Scriptures  he  is 
most  frequently  set  forth  in  the  imagery  of  peace — the  sword 
superseded  by  the  olive-branch ;  not  that  there  is  a  change  in 
God,  but  that  there  is  progress  in  the  revelation  of  his  char- 
acter. In  the  former  dispensation,  he  is  spoken  of  most  fre- 
quently as  the  "  Lord  of  hosts ;  "  in  the  New  Testament  econ- 
my,  he  is  most  frequently  alluded  to  as  "  the  Father,"  "  the 
God  of  peace,  that  brought  again  from  the  dead  our  Lord 
Jesus  Chi-ist."  Again,  Jesus  is  spoken  of  as  "  the  Prince  of 
peace."  He  came  to  ratify  peace  by  his  blood;  he  is  our 
peace.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  "  the  dove ;  "  the  symbol  of  what 
he  bestows  is  "  the  olive-branch ;  "  one  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit 
is  peace.  The  Gospel  is  the  mission  of  peace,  —  "peace  on 
earth,  glory  to  God,  good-will  to  men;  "  wisdom  that  is  pure, 
and  instantly  after  peaceable.  A  millennium  of  truth  must 
precede  a  millenium  of  peace.  First,  the  storm  that  purifies 
the  air,  though  it  disturbs  the  quiet ;  next,  the  calm  sunshine 
tliat  lights  up  the  peace  that  passeth  understanding  surrounds 
the  world  like  a  zone,  and  keeps  the  hearts  of  God's  people 
continually. 

Peace  is  predicted  ultimately  to  prevail,  in  spite  of  the 
peacebreakers,  and  often  notwithstanding  the  defects  of  the 
peacemakers.  The  spear  shall  be  beaten  into  the  ploughshare, 
the  sword  into  the  pmning-hook,  the  clarion  shall  be  hung  up 
in  the  hall,  garments  rolled  in  blood  shall  be  exchanged  for 
bridal  dresses  and  coronation  robes,  and  the  nations  shall  learn 
war  no  more. 

As  much  as  lieth  in  us,  let  us  live  peaceably  with  all  men. 
Speak  evil  of  none ;  defraud  not  one  another ;  avoid  the 
springs  of  quarrel,  and  thus  you  hasten  the  reign  of  sweet 
peace. 

Be  slow  to  take  up  evil  reports  about  yourselves  or  others. 


140  THE   HAPPY   FAMILY. 

When  men  speak  ill  of  you,  unless  it  be  sometliing  that  de- 
mands instant  and  public  reply,  let  it  alone.  Those  insect-like 
rumors,  that  creep  about  and  enter  into  men's  ears,  are  not 
worth  noticing ;  the  blight  wind  that  bring-s  them  will  also 
Bweep  them  away.  Be  slow  to  listen  to  rumors,  above  all, 
about  a  brother ;  and  when  these  reach  you  prophesying  evil, 
when  they  only  look  at  the  bad  side  or  evil  aspect  of  his  con- 
duct, reject  all  at  once,  until  irrefragably  demonstrated  to  be 
true.  Do  not,  as  humanity  is  prone,  open  your  ear  full  to  the 
evil  report,  and  suspect  the  possibility  of  the  good  one. 

And,  for  the  sake  of  this  peace,  let  us  recede  from  much  we 
might  justly  demand,  and  concede  much  we  might  justly  with- 
hold. Pay  a  debt  twice  over  rather  than  go  to  law,  is  a  com- 
mon-sense paraphrase  of  the  nineteenth  century  upon  the 
injunction  of  our  Lord,  "  If  any  man  will  sue  thee  at  the  law, 
and  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  also."  Rath- 
er pay  with  both  hands ;  for  you  will  find  it  cheaper  than 
breaking  peace,  and  contributing  to  the  maintenance  of  law- 
yers. Surrender  what  you  might  justly  demand,  and  freely 
give  what  you  might  justly  withhold,  for  the  sake  of  peace. 
Look  at  Abraham  and  Lot.  How  perfect  was  Abraham's 
conduct, — how  miserable  was  Lot's!  Abraham,  the  elder,  who 
might  have  exacted  all,  conceded  all.  He  said,  "  Let  there 
be.  no  strife,  I  pray  thee,  between  me  and  thee,  and  between 
my  herdmen  and  thy  herdmen ;  for  we  be  brethren.  Is  not 
the  whole  land  before  thee  ?  separate  thyself,  I  pray  thee, 
from  me:  if  thou  wilt  take  the  left  hand,  then  I  will  go  to 
the  right ;  or,  if  thou  depart  to  the  right  hand,  then  I  will  go 
to  the  left."  And  Lot,  with  the  selfishness  that  is  the  peace- 
breaker,  in  awful  contrast  to  the  love  that  was  in  Abraham 
the  peacemaker,  made  his  election,  and  saw  that  the  plain  of 
Sodom  was  well  watered  and  abundant ;  and  he  pitched  his 
tent  there.  But  he  learned  that  the  peacebreaker  never  can 
be  on  earth  the  peace-enjoyer ;  and  Abraham  learned  by  ex- 


THE   HAPPY   FAMILY.  141 

perience  what  he  held  in  principle,  that  a  peacemaker  was  not 
only  a  child  of  God,  but  was  honored  also  by  being  called 
"  the  father  of  the  faithful."  For  the  sake  of  peace  let  us 
not  retaliate ;  and  even  when  we  gain  the  victory,  let  that 
victory  be  meekly  enjo^^ed.  Forbear  in  speech,  when  a  word 
is  ready  to  escape  from  the  lips  that  would  kindle  a  conflagra- 
tion. Forbear  in  hand,  when  your  action  might  be  violent 
and  destructive.  Forbear  in  thought,  when  your  thought 
might  prompt  to  revenge.  Forbear  with  the  sinner ;  his  own 
sins  will  find  him  out  soonest,  his  own  conscience  will  scourge 
him  sorest.  And,  depend  upon  it,  of  two  men,  the  one  who 
robs  the  other  is  the  most  to  be  pitied,  and  the  victim  of  the 
robber  is,  in  comparison,  to  be  envied  than  otherwise.  No 
man  sins  except  amid  the  warning  protests  of  his  own  con- 
science ;  and,  even  in  this  world,  it  is  learned  and  felt  by  bit- 
ter experience,  and  amid  tears  of  blood,  that  the  victory,  as  it 
seems,  of  to-day,  is  the  poignant  defeat  of  to-morrow.  There- 
fore, in  order  to  secure  peace,  recede  and  concede ;  bear  all 
things,  hope  all  things.  How  truly  and  justly  was  it  said, 
two  thousand  years  ago  (Prov.  17:  1),  "Better  is  a  dry 
morsel,  and  quietness  therewith,  than  a  houseful  of  sacrifices, 
with  strife."  And  most  philosophically  was  it  said,  "  A  soft 
answer  turneth  away  wrath." 

Such  "  shall  be  called,"  as  their  reward,  "  the  children  of 
God."  It  would  take  too  long  time  were  I  to  dilate  upon  the 
adoption  of  the  sons  of  God.  It  is  not  said  that  they  shall  be 
made  the  children  of  God  by  being  peacemakers ;  but  that, 
by  being  peacemakers,  they  shall  be  called  and  recognized  by 
the  church  below  as  the  children  of  God.  Throughout  the 
Gospels  men  are  constantly  called  the  children  of  him  whose 
character  they  imitate.  "  Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil, 
and  the  lusts  of  your  father  ye  will  do ;  "  that  is,  their  char- 
acter determined  their  relationship.  So  again  it  is  said : 
"Be  followers  of  God,  as  dear  children; "  "Love  your  ene- 


142  THE   HAPPY   FAMILY. 

mies',  and  ye  shall  be  the  children  of  the  Highest."  All  this 
indicates  that  peacemaking  is  a  reflection  from  the  Great 
Peacemaker ;  and  that,  in  proportion  as  we  exhibit  a  peace- 
making character,  do  we  indicate  affinity  with  him  who  is 
the  Great  Peacemaker,  our  Elder  Brother,  and,  therefore, 
manifest  ourselves  as  the  children  of  God.  We  are  the  chil- 
dren of  God,  if  we  be  Christians.  We  are  so  by  election, 
"  having  predestinated  us  to  the  adoption  of  children."  We 
are  made  so  by  faith.  "  Ye  are  the  children  of  God,"  says 
the  apostle,  "  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus ;  "  not  by  baptism  ad- 
ministered by  a  minister,  but  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  the  in- 
strument. And  this  change,  wherever  it  is,  is  a  new  nature. 
We  are  adopted  from  the  old  family  into  the  new  family  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Because  we  are  the  children  of  God 
upon  earth,  all  things  will  benefit  and  bless  us.  Wind,  wave, 
storm,  affliction,  trial,  will  aid  us.  "  All  things  are  yours, 
Paul,  Apollos,  Cephas,  life  or  death,  things  present  or  things  to 
come  :  for  ye  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's."  "  I  give  unto 
them,"  says  the  Saviour,  "  eternal  life,  and  they  shall  never 
perish."  And  then,  says  the  apostle,  "  All  creation  groans 
and  travails,  waiting  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of 
God ;  "  waiting  for  that  day  when  all  God's  scattered  chil- 
dren found  in  every  denomination,  not  a  few  of  them  even  in 
the  Church  of  Borne ;  some,  it  may  be,  even  amid  the  ancient 
and  the  weary-footed  tribes  of  Israel,  who  may  have  found 
the  Saviour  in  Isaiah,  though  they  never  read  of  him  in  Mat- 
thew, Mark,  Luke,  and  John; — from  every  section  of  the 
globe,  from  every  portion  of  the  church  universal,  shall  be 
collected  in  one  blessed  group,  and  constitute  the  bride  for  the 
bridegroom,  the  New  Jerusalem  that  cometh  down  from  heav- 
en, and  so  be  manifested  as  the  children  of  the  Highest,  and 
God  the  Lord  shall  dwell  forever  in  the  midst  of  them. 
Such  is  another  page  of  the  blessed  life ! 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE   NOBLE  ARMY  OF    MARTYES. 

**  These  severe  afflictions 
Not  from  the  ground  arise  ; 
But  oftentimes  celestial  benedictions 
Assume  this  dark  disguise. 

*'  We  see  but  dimly  through  the  mists  and  vapors, 
Amid  these  earthly  damps  ; 
What  seem  to  us  but  sad  funereal  tapers 
May  be  heaven's  distant  lamps." 

"  Blessed  are  they  which  are  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake  :  for 
theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  re- 
vile you,  and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against 
you  falsely,  for  my  sake.  Rejoice,  and  be  exceeding  glad  :  for  great  is 
your  reward  in  heaven  :  for  so  persecuted  they  the  prophets  which  were 
before  you." — Matthew  5  :  10 — 12. 

There  are  countless  perplexing  questions  in  the  world.  It 
is  perplexing  that  sin  should  be  in  it  at  all ;  it  is  perplexing 
that  any  should  be  doomed  to  suffer  here  or  hereafter ;  it  is 
all  but  inexplicable  that  good  men  should  suffer;  it  is  more 
so  that  good  men  should  suffer  just  because  of  their  goodness; 
and  that  moral  excellency,  not  crime,  should  so  often  provoke 
the  persecution  of  the  world,  and  that  all  these  things  should 
be  permitted  by  that  God  who  reigns  and  rules  over  all,  and 
who  has  omnipotence,  as  well  as  love,  for  his  attributes,  equal 
to  the  greatest  conceivable  occasion.  We  can  only  say  there 
are  more  questions  suggested  in  the  Bible  than  the  Bible 


144  THE    NOSLE    ARMY    OF    MAllTYRS. 

answers;  —  on  many  of  these  we  may  give  satisfaction,  while 
we  cannot  solve  them ;  and  of  the  most  difficult  it  is  true, 
''  What  we  know  not  now,  we  shall  know  hereafter." 

To  "persecute"  is  the  same  word  translated  elsewhere 
to  "  pursue,"  or  to  "  follow."  For  instance,  "  Follow  that . 
which  is  good"  is  the  rendering  of  the  very  same  word  that  is 
here  translated  "  persecute."  "  Follow  peace  with  all  men" 
is  also  the  translation  of  the  very  same  word.  But,  in  the 
case  of  a  lion  in  pursuit  of  a  lamb,  "  following  "  suggests  a 
very  different  meaning  from  its  usual  one ;  and  in  the  case 
of  a  persecutor  or  opponent  of  the  truth  pursuing  with  his 
vengeance  its  advocate,  the  word  "  to  follow  "  has  a  very  defi- 
nite and  unmistakable  import.  It  is  best  defined  and  ex- 
plained by  the  apostle  in  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  where 
he  says  that  they  had  "  trial  of  cruel  mockings  and  scourg- 
ings,  yea,  moreover,  of  bonds  and  imprisonment :  they  were 
stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder,  were  tempted,  were  slain 
with  the  sword :  they  wandered  about  in  sheep-skins  and  goat- 
skins; being  destitute,  afflicted,  tormented."  That  is  the 
practical  definition  of  "persecuting,"  or  •'  following." 

"  Righteousness,"  again,  is  the  generic  term  for  conformity 
to  the  whole  of  the  religion  of  Jesus,  in  word  and  work.  I 
explained  its  nature,  in  my  remarks  on  the  beatitude 
"  Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteous- 
ness," chiefly  as  that  by  which  we  are  justified.  But  here 
"  righteousness  "  is  used  in  its  general  sense,  and  includes  the 
belief  of  all  that  is  true,  and  conformity  to  all  that  is  morally 
right,  and  for  all  this  braving,  while  thereby  incurring,  the 
persecutions  of  the  world. 

This  beatitude  —  the  last  of  those  pronounced  on  the 
mount  —  gave  comfort  principally  to  those  who  in  the  early 
aa'es  of  the  Christian  church  were  oftenest  the  victims  of  a 

a 

cruel,  relentless  persecution.     It  opened  its  bosom  to  receive 
them,  consecrated  their  sufferings,  and  revealed  the  blessed 


THE  NOBLE  ARMY  OF  MARTYRS.  145 

truth,  that  what  the  world  regarded  as  their  opprobrious 
brand  was,  in  the  estimate  of  God,  the  evidence  of  their 
Bonship  and  of  their  heirship  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Let  us  try  to  ascertain  what  is  meant  by  being  persecuted 
for  righteousness'  sake.  All  sujffering  is  not  necessarily  per- 
secution. Great  criminals  have  greatly  suffered,  but  they 
have  not  therefore  been  persecuted.  It  is  not  suffering  that 
makes  this  persecution,  it  is  the  ground  of  the  suffering.  It 
is  not  the  breath  he  gives  forth,  but  the  soul  he  gives  up,  that 
constitutes  the  martyr.  He  is  not  a  martyr  who  suffers,  but 
he  who  suffers  because  of  his  attachment  to  Christ's  cause, 
and  his  devotedness  to  Christ's  commands.  "  For  thy  sake 
we  are  killed  all  the  day  long." 

Mere  suffering  for  conscience'  sake  does  not  constitute  per- 
secution for  righteousness'  sake.  To  suffer  for  conscience' 
sake,  as  many  have  done,  is  to  prove  that  we  are  perfectly 
sincere  in  our  attachment  to  what  we  suffer  for.  But  even  a 
Mahometan  may  conscientiously  believe  what  is  wrong,  and 
suffer  for  that  conscientious  belief.  A  Hindoo  believes  con- 
scientiously his  creed,  and  he  is  prepared  to  suffer  for  his 
attachment  to  that  creed.  But,  in  both  cases,  the  conscience 
is  wrong,  —  it  is  misinformed.  It  may,  in  other  cases,  be 
attached  to  a  crotchet,  and  suffer  for  it,  and  not  for  righteous- 
ness' sake.  In  such  a  case  we  respect  the  man  because  he  is 
sincere,  but  we  do  not  hold  his  religion  to  be  true  because  he 
suffers  for  it.  His  suffering,  for  which  we  condemn  the  per- 
secutor, is  the  evidence  that  he  is  sincere ;  it  is  no  proof  that 
the  sufferer  is  right,  or  suffers  for  righteousness'  sake. 

To  be  imprisoned,  fined  and  put  to  death,  for  confessing  and 
upholding  the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  is  not  always  and  every- 
where an  evidence  that  we  are  persecuted  for  righteousness' 
sake.  Many  an  excellent  Christian  incurs  reproach,  not  from 
the  truth  he  believes,  or  the  principles  he  has  accepted,  but 
because  of  the  bad  temper  with  which  he  states  them,  or  the 
13 


146  THE   NOBLE   ARMY   OF   MARTYES. 

indiscretions  into  which  he  falls  in  maintaining  them.  We 
have  often  noticed  that  many  a  true  Christian  has  come  to 
believe  he  is  persecuted  for  Christ's  sake,  when  he  is  really 
persecuted  for  his  own  indiscretions.  He  has  provoked,  how- 
ever unintentionally,  the  cruel  retributions  that  have  been 
inflicted  upon  him.  It  is,  therefore,  possible  to  suffer  appar- 
ently for  righteousness'  sake,  and  yet  to  be  enduring  suffer- 
ings that  we  have  incurred  by  our  own  indiscretion,  or  unwise 
mismanagement  of  otherwise  good  and  holy  convictions. 

To  suffer  for  righteousness'  sake  is,  first  of  all,  to  suffer 
because  of  our  maintenance  of  truth,  —  that  truth  being 
firmly,  purely  and  persistently,  asserted  and  held.  The  world 
hates  the  truth ;  the  darkness  shrinks  from  the  light.  It  re- 
bukes the  wicked  man's  sins ;  and  he,  rather  than  part  with 
these  sins,  will,  like  Herod,  if  he  has  the  power,  behead  the 
preacher,  that  the  preacher's  testimony  may  be  thereby  sup- 
pressed. 

In  such  a  ease,  persecution  is  of  all  things  the  most 
cowardly.  It  is  evidence  that  the  argument  of  the  Christian 
cannot  be  replied  to,  when  the  sword  and  the  fagot  are  in- 
voked to  put  him  down.  But  it  is  a  glad  fact,  that  all  the 
persecutions  ever  levelled  against  the  truth  have  vindicated, 
not  darkened,  its  splendor.  Truth  has  not  died  with  its  pro- 
fessors. God  is  not  dethroned  when  his  saints  and  his  advo- 
cates fall.  The  ashes  of  the  martyrs  have  been  the  seed-corn 
scattered  over  many  a  land,  that  has  grown  into  golden  har- 
vests, and  has  attested  in  after  ages  how  invincible  is  truth, 
and  how  faithfully  its  martyrs  held  it,  and  how  truly  they 
loved  not  their  lives,  even  unto  the  death. 

To  be  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake  is  to  be  persecuted, 
not  only  for  holding  persistently  and  firmly  the  truth,  but, 
also,  for  obedience  to  the  commands  of  Christ,  when  these 
commands  go  right  across  the  commands  of  an  earthly  supe- 
rior.   An  apostle  said,  "Whether  we  should  obey  God,  or  obey 


THE   NOBLE   ARMY   OF    MARTYRS.  147 

man,  judge  ye."  If  Ca3sai*  tlie  beloved  should  give  a  com- 
luuiid  which  Christ  the  more  beloved  has  contradicted  by  an 
unequivocal  command  to  the  contrary,  the  Christian  has  no 
choice;  he  must  accept  Caesar's  persecution,  if  he  is  so  mis- 
guided as  to  -inflict  it,  in  order  to  maintain  his  allegiance  to 
Christ,  who  is  Lord  of  the  conscience. 

These,  then,  are  the  two  forms  in  which  a  Christian  becomes 
obnoxious  to  the  wrath  of  the  persecutor,  and  of  the  last  we 
have  instances  and  specimens  in  every  page  of  Christian  his- 
tory, and  not  a  few  in  the  pages  of  the  word  of  God.  Ne- 
buchadnezzar commanded  Shadrach,  Meshach  and  Abednego, 
to  fall  down  and  worship  the  golden  image  which  he  had  set 
up  in  the  plain  of  Dura.  They  could  not,  because  they  were 
worshippers  of  the  true  God ;  and  they  said,  with  courtesy, 
but  with  firmness,  that  they  would  not.  The  consequence  was, 
they  had  to  suffer  for  it.  The  early  Christians  were  com- 
manded by  the  Roman  emperors  to  off"er  incense  to  the  statue 
of  Jupiter,  and  to  swear  by  the  name  of  the  emperor.  They 
refused  to  do  so,  and  the  consequence  was,  they  were  thrown 
to  the  wild  beasts.  The  Waldenses,  amid  the  mountain  fast- 
nesses of  Europe,  determined  that  they  would  not  give  adora- 
tion to  a  wafer  as  God,  or  worship  to  the  Virgin  Mary  as  the 
queen  of  heaven  ;  and  therefore  they  suffered.  There  is  not  a 
cave  in  the  Alps  in  which  their  dead  dust  is  not;  there  is  not 
a  valley  in  Piedmont  which  does  not  to  the  Christian  ear  still 
reverberate  with  the  moans  of  those  who  loved  not  their  lives 
unto  the  death,  who  died  victims  and  martyrs  to  their  enemies 
rather  than  be  renegades  to  their  Lord.  In  such  instances 
disobedience  to  Ciesar  seems  to  be  a  crime ;  it  is  really  none. 
Obedience  to  Christ  is  the  loftier  duty,  before  which  the  lesser 
must  give  way.  We  mustj  however,  see  the  contradiction 
and  the  antagonism  to  be  so  obvious  that  there  can  be  no 
possible,  or,  at  least,  reasonable  mistake. 

Thus,  when  a  Christian  holds  the  truth  which  he  knows  to 


148  THE   NOBLE   ARMY   OF   MARTYRS. 

be  from  God,  and  will  not  deny  it ;  or,  when  lie  persists  in  a 
course  the  momentum  and  the  direction  of  which  are  demon- 
strably from  on  high,  and  will  not  depart  from  it ;  and  in 
consequence  of  this  persistent  allegiance  provokes  the  wrath 
and  incurs  the  penalties  of  man  ;  he  must  console  himself  with 
the  benediction  pronounced  from  the  skies,  which  no  perse- 
cutor can  arrest,  nor  tyrant  intercept,  "  Blessed  are  they  that 
are  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake  :  for  theirs  is  the  king- 
dom of  heaven." 

We  should  not  be  surprised  to  see  similar  persecution  break 
out  again.  It  is  not  the  monopoly  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church ;  wherever  the  corrupt  heart  beats,  the  principle  of 
persecution  lives.  Every  unsanctified  man  would  put  down 
by  force  what  he  cannot  refute  by  argument.  But  in  the 
E-omish  church  what  is  indigenous  to  the  natural  man  is 
systematized,  exasperated,  and  with  most  consummate,  even 
demoniacal  ingenuity,  arranged  and  managed,  till  it  becomes 
the  most  formidable  engine  of  cruelty  ever  •  invented.  I  now 
state  what  I  have  ascertained,  not  by  hearsay,  not  by  second- 
hand reading,  but  from  the  most  unquestionable  proofs,  and 
from  authentic  documents,  that  there  is  not  a  bishop,  nor  a 
priest,  in  the  Church  of  Borne,  who  is  not  pledged  or  sworn  to 
exterminate  every  Protestant  in  the  land,  and  to  remove  every 
officer  who  has  power  and  jurisdiction  in  the  midst  of  it,  who 
refuses  to  accept  the  Boman  Catholic  religion,  and  to  become 
a  subject  and  ally  of  the  Pope  of  Borne.  That  is  his  pledge, 
his  obligation  and  duty.  And,  therefore,  when  a  Boman 
Catholic  bishop  persecutes,  I  regret  his  position,  but  respect 
the  man  who  does  what  he  has  accepted  as  a  duty  ;  but  when 
a  Protestant  shuts  his  eyes  to  the  proof  and  certainty  of  it, 
and  denies  the  possibility  of  it,  I  have  no  respect  for  him  at 
all.  I  only  wish  that  Protestants  were  as  true  to  their  noble 
creed  as  the  Boman  Catholics  are  to  their  superstitious  one. 
Only  the  Church  of  Borne  does  not  begin  with  persecution. 


THE   NOBLE   AEMY   OF   MARTYRS.  149 

SKe  has  herein  the  true  succession  of  the  despot  on  the  plain 
of  Dura  :  she  tries  the  sackbut  and  the  psaltery,  those  are 
her  attractions  first ;  and  then,  if  they  will  not  bow  down, 
there  is  the  seven-times-heated  furnace  for  the  recusants.  Her 
first  attempt  is  a  display  of  music  the  most  exquisite  in  Chris- 
tendom, and  robes,  drapery,  and  incense  the  most  beautiful, 
and  all  that  can  fascinate  the  vulgar  eye,  that  too  often  ad- 
mires the  lamps  upon  the  street  more  than  the  stars  in  the 
sky  —  all  these  are  brought  to  bear  upon  the  senses  and  feel- 
ings of  man.  And  if  these  fail,  as  soon  as  the  power  is  hers, 
the  sword  is  unsheathed,  and  the  fagot  is  kindled.  Before 
that  dread  system  goes  down,  we  shall  have  a  short  but  a 
sharp  night  of  her  fiercest  persecution  :  and,  alas !  we  deserve 
it  too. 

From  the  first  to  the  last,  the  law  of  the  Christian  economy 
has  been,  "  Through  much  tribulation  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  The  prophecy  of  our  Lord  has  been  developed  in 
every  field  on  which  the  cross  has  been  raised,  "  In  the  world 
ye  shall  have  tribulation,  but  in  me  ye  shall  have  peace." 
There  was  not  a  distinguished  saint  in  the  earliest  centuries 
of  the  Christian  church  who  did  not  die  a  martyr  for  Jesus' 
sake.  Abel,  in  ancient  times,  before  the  last  spark  of  the 
glory  of  Paradise  was  quenched,  or  its  last  leaf  had  fallen 
from  its  trees,  was  a  martjT,  and  Cain  became  a  murderer. 
Matthew  the  evangelist  was  stoned ;  Paul  the  apostle  was 
beheaded  ;  Andrew  was  crucified  ;  Peter  was  nailed  to  a  cross 
with  his  head  downwards ;  Mark  was  drowned  ;  James  was 
beheaded  ;  Thomas  was  killed  by  a  spear-head,  or  an  arrow  ; 
Jude  was  slain  by  a  mob ;  Bartholomew  was  beaten  to  death 
by  rods ;  every  apostle  or  teacher,  except  John,  died  a  mar- 
tyr's death  in  the  very  dawn  of  the  Christian  economy.  They 
needed  such  a  beatitude  ;  it  was  needed  emphatically  then,  it 
may  be  needed  again.  But,  thanks  be  to  God,  those  Chiis- 
tians  whom  attractions  do  not  speedily  enough  draw  to  heaven 
13^ 


150  OIHE   NOBLE   ARMY   OF   MARTYRS. 

only  find  tliat  persecutions  chase  them  to  heaven ;  and  that 
all  things,  good  or  bad,  prosperous  or  adverse,  "  work  together 
for  good  to  them  that  love  God."  Yet  holy  and  happy  are 
the  memories  of  the  martyred  dead.  As  a  mountain  lifts  its 
cairn,  commemorative  of  sainted  sufferers,  into  the  pure  light 
of  heaven,  so  are  these  in  God's  sight.  Yet  we  think  some- 
times that  God  might  have  spread  the  Gospel  without  sufier- 
ing,  he  might  have  convinced  men's  minds  and  carried  men's 
hearts  without  so  frightful  a  sacrifice.  But  it  seems  that,  as 
the  Captain  was  made  perfect  through  sufiering,  the  soldiers 
must  be  made  perfect  through  sufi'ering  also.  There  must  be 
a  reason  for  it,  or  it  would  not  be.  The  blood  of  the  martyrs. 
in  ancient  days,  became  the  seed  of  the  church.  The  flames 
that  consumed  them  shed  their  splendor  upon  the  principles 
for  which  they  died ;  and  the  heathen,  beholding  men  so 
meekly  and  magnanimously  suffer,  were  constrained  to  feel 
what  previously  they  had  denied,  that  the  grace  that  so 
strengthened  and  so  sustained  them  must  be  from  on  high, 
and  could  not  be  the  imagination  or  the  fanaticism  of  the 
human  heart.     The  poet  has  well  said, 

"  Flung  to  the  heedless  winds, 
Or  on  the  waters  cast. 
Their  ashes  still  were  watched. 
And  gathered  at  the  last. 

"  And  from  their  scattered  dust, 
Around  them  and  abroad, 
Did  spring  a  plenteous  seed 
Of  witnesses  for  God. 

*'  Jesus  hath  now  received 

Their  latest  living  breath. 
And  vain  was  Satan's  boast 
Of  victory  in  their  death. 

"  Still,  still,  though  dead,  they  speak. 
And  trumpet-tongued  proclaim 
To  some  awakening  land 
The  one  availing  Name." 


THE  NOBLE  ARMY  OF  MARTYES.  151 

The  blood  of  the  martyrs  became  the  seed  of  the  church. 
The  suflFerings  of  God's  people  shed  an  imperishable  and  pen- 
etrating glory  on  that  cause  which  they  sealed  with  their 
suflferings. 

But  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  if  God's  people  have  suffered 
in  every  age,  not  as  penalties  for  their  sins,  but  as  alike  the 
consequences  and  manifestations  of  the  divinity  of  the  cause 
which  they  sealed  with  their  blood,  of  those  who  were  the 
most  ruthless  persecutors  of  the  people  of  God  in  the  first 
three  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  scarcely  one  died  a  natural 
death.  If  it  be  true  that  the  saints  of  God  were  early  num- 
bered with  the  dead,  because  of  their  attachment  to  his  cause, 
those  who  unsheathed  the  sword,  and  lighted  the  fagots,  were 
not  allowed  to  live  in  honor  and  pleasure  a  long  life.  Read 
the  history  of  the  Koman  emperors  who  were  at  the  bottom 
of  almost  every  persecution  of  the  first  ten,  and  you  will  find 
that  scarcely  one  died  a  natural  death.  Nero  was  driven 
from  his  throne,  and  forced  in  despair  to  commit  suicide ; 
Domitian,  the  most  ruthless  persecutor  of  the  saints  of  God, 
was  slaughtered  in  his  chamber,  his  own  wife  taking  a  part 
in  the  murder ;  Decius  was  killed  in  battle,  and  denied  what 
a  Koman  so  much  valued,  the  sanctity  of  burial ;  Valerian 
was  taken  captive  by  the  Persians,  confined  in  a  cage,  flayed 
alive,  and  killed  amid  the  most  excruciating  tortures;  Au- 
relian  died  wretchedly ;  Galerius  was  struck  down  by  a  loath- 
some disease ;  and  Maxentius  was  cast  into  the  Tiber  and 
drowned.  These  are  the  names  of  the  most  notorious  of  the 
ancient  persecutors  of  the  saints  of  God.  Not  one  of  them 
died  a  natural,  but  each  of  them  a  cruel,  ignominious,  and 
shameful  death. 

We  have  looked  at  persecution  heretofore  as  proscription 
of  person,  as  putting  the  advocate  of  truth  to  death  for  his 
maintenance  of  inspired  but  unpopular  truth ;  but  the  passage 
shows  that  there  is  another  sort  of  possible  persecution  that  is 


152  THE   NOELE   ARMY   OP   MAETYRS. 

a  very  common  one,  —  reproach  :  "  Blessed  are  ye  when  men 
shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my  sake." 
The  name  of  Christ  was  first  blackened,  and  then  he  was  cru- 
cified ;  the  names  of  Christ's  people  were  first  caricatured,  and 
next  they  were  put  to  death.  "  These  men,"  said  they,  "  have 
turned  the  world  upside  down."  Philosophy  called  Paul  "  a 
babbler."  The  orator  Tertullus  called  him  "  a  pestilent  fel- 
low." The  Christians  were  charged  with  eating  their  own 
children,  and  with  being  atheists.  The  Waldenses  were  called 
Manicheans.  Wicklifie  was  traduced  ;  and,  if  you  will  read 
the  accounts  given  by  Roman  Catholics  of  the  deaths  of  Calvin 
and  Luther,  you  will  wonder  at  the  ingenuity  of  Roman 
writers,  who  could  invent  such  monstrosities  as  are  printed,  in 
order  to  malign  the  names  of  so  illustrious  men.  But  we 
rejoice  to  know  that  there  is  a  benediction  here  also  :  "  Blessed 
are  ye."  It  is  not  in  any  form,  however  the  persecution,  that 
makes  the  sufferer  blessed,  but  the  cause  for  which  he  sufiers. 
It  is  not  the  punishment  he  endures  that  commands  the  bless- 
ing, but  it  is  the  patience,  the  meekness,  the  magnanimity, 
with  which  he  endures  it,  on  which  the  benediction  of  God 
continually  rests. 

Such  ones  are  blessed,  for  they  are  so  esteemed  of  God  that 
they  are  placed  in  the  van  of  his  army  ;  they  are  the  heroes 
of  the  cross,  the  leaders  of  the  forlorn  hope,  faithful  unto  death, 
and,  therefore,  have  a  crown  of  life.  They  are  blessed,  too, 
because  of  those  they  sufier  with.  You  know  that  even  shame 
can  be  borne,  when  it  is  endured  in  a  bright  and  a  gallant 
band.  And  so  persecution  and  death  may  be  magnanimously 
met,  when  suffered  in  company  with  the  goodly  fellowship  of 
the  prophets,  with  the  glorious  company  of  the  apostles,  with 
the  noble  army  of  martyrs,  with  all  that  purely  lived,  with  all 
that  faithfully  fell,  and,  above  all,  with  Jesus,  the  great  Cap- 
tain of  the  faith,  who  left  us  an  example  that  we  should  follow 
his  steps :  what  martial  music  is  to  men  marching  to  battle 


THE   NOBLE   ARMY   OP   MART  YES.  153 

Bhould  such  thoughts  be  to  us.  Such  as  these  are  blessed, 
too,  because  they  have  in  their  suflerings  for  righteousness' 
sake  the  inner  evidence  of  their  own  sonship.  They  are  set 
apart  in  the  front  of  the  Christian  army,  not  as  a  judgment, 
but  as  an  honor  ;  and,  thus  honored,  they  have  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  that  honor  the  sweet  persuasion  that  they  are  the 
sous  of  God. 

If  we  read  what  the  martyrs  felt  amidst  the  greatest  ago- 
nies, we  shall  find  that  there  was  vouchsafed  to  them  an 
amount  of  consolation,  joy  and  peace,  that  made  them  count 
their  heaviest  to  be  but  light  afflictions,  which  were  but  for  a 
moment,  and  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  glory  which 
shall  be  revealed.  The  martyr  Bradford,  when  cast  into 
prison,  said,  "  I  thank  God  for  this  prison  more  than  for  a 
palace,  and  more  than  for  any  pleasure  I  ever  felt :  for  I  have 
fomid  God  here,  as  I  never  found  him  before."  That  was  not 
fanaticism,  but  solemn,  sober,  heartfelt  experience.  Glover 
also  said,  "  I  can  enter  into  this  prison  ;  and  when  I  entered 
it,  I  wept  for  very  joy  :  for  what  am  I  that  I  should  be 
counted  worthy  to  suffer  for  His  name's  sake  ?  "  And  another 
martyr,  no  less  distinguished  than  these,  said,  when  he  was 
being  consumed  amid  the  flames,  "  Wonder,  ye  persecutors, 
for  in  this  fire  I  feel  no  more  pain  than  if  I  lay  upon  a  bed 
of  down,  or  walked  upon  paths  of  roses."  This  cannot  have 
been  fancy.  The  flames  curling  around  him  were  no  fancy ; 
nerve,  and  flesh,  and  blood,  are  now  no  fancy.  It  was  God's 
consolation  so  abounding  in  his  heart  that  all  outer  things  be- 
came unreal ;  and  the  approaching  day,  and  the  great  pros- 
pects beyond  it,  so  cheered  and  so  sustained  him,  that  the 
sufi"erings  of  the  outer  man  were  felt  as  nothing  in  comparison 
with  the  inward  and  enduring  glory. 

But  not  only  are  they  thus  blessed  who  sufier  for  right  eous* 
ness'  sake,  but  they  are  specially  blessed  because  of  the  prom- 
ise.    "  Theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."     Their  wounds  are 


/laMp  THE   NOBLE   ARMY   OF   MARTYRS. 

their  trophies,  their  scars  shall  become  as  sunbeams,  theix 
mourning  shall  be  turned  into  dancing,  their  sackcloth  and 
their  ashes  into  joy.  In  the  twenty-first  and  twenty-second 
chapters  of  Revelation,  we  have  the  martyr's  reward.  It  is 
also  written,  "  I  saw  them  that  were  beheaded  for  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus ;  and  they  rose  and  reigned  with  Christ  a 
thousand  years.  Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in 
this  resurrection."  "Who  are  these,"  said  an  inquirer, 
"  and  whence  come  they  ?  These  are  they  that  came  out  of 
great  tribulation,  and  have  washed  their  robes,  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb." 

But  this  promise  implies  degrees  of  joy :  for  it  says, 
*'  Great  is  your  reward  in  heaven ;"  that  is,  "  comparatively 
and  emphatically  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven."  Are 
there,  then,  degrees  of  glory  or  happiness  in  heaven  ?  I  think 
there  are.  The  degree  of  happiness  in  the  future  will  be  in 
the  ratio  of  the  capacity  for  it  that  we  have  received  upon 
earth.  Our  title  to  heaven  is  the  same  in  every  case ;  but 
there  are  in  heaven  different  vessels  —  every  vessel  full,  but 
one  vessel  larger  than  another.  There  is  one  star  of  one  glory, 
and  another  star  of  another  glory.  "  As  star  differeth  from 
star,  so  will  be  the  resurrection  of  the  just."  Suppose  that 
two  persons  go  to  an  oratorio,  and  hear  one  of  the  first  com- 
positions of  Mendelssohn  or  Handel,  one  will  derive  ten 
times  more  pleasure  from  it  than  the  other  ;  because,  one 
having  not  only  an  original  taste  but  a  more  cultivated  ear 
than  the  other,  they  will  have  different  capacities  of  enjoy- 
ment ;  and  the  one  who  has  the  most  musical  ear  will  neces- 
sarily derive  the  greatest  amount  of  pleasure  from  the  per- 
formance. So  we  can  conceive  two  persons  admitted  into 
heaven  ;  one  having  a  delicate  and  large  susceptibility  of  joy 
which  the  other  has  not,  he  derives  a  degree  of  felicity  which 
differs  from  that  tasted  by  the  other  as  widely  as  possible. 
"  He  that  soweth  sparingly  shall  reap  sparingly;  and  he  that 


THE   NOBLE   ARMY   OF    BIARTYRS.  155 

sowetli  abundantly  shall  reap  abimclantl  j."  We  read  of  "  a 
prophet's  reward,"  and  of  "  a  righteous  man's  reward  ;"  and 
that  "  whosoever  gives  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  a  disciple  shall 
in  nowise  lose  his  reward." 

Do  we  know  what  persecution  or  proscription  is  ?  Have 
we  any  experience  of  what  it  is  to  suffer  because  we  do  what 
is  right,  just  and  holy,  and  believe  and  maintain  the  truth  in 
the  face  of  all  error,  and  at  all  hazard  ?  If  we  have  escaped 
hitherto,  let  us  suspect  ourselves.  Have  we  been  living 
epistles  that  men  could  read  ?  Has  our  testimony  been  clear, 
unequivocal,  unembarrassed  ?  If  we  are  not  called  upon  to 
die  for  Christ,  do  we  yet  live  for  Christ  ?  If  we  cannot 
speak  for  him  in  the  pulpit,  or  on  the  platform,  can  we  act 
for  him,  and,  if  needs  be,  die  for  him  ?  It  is  easier,  however, 
to  die  heroically  than  it  is  to  live  divinely.  The  greatest 
martyrs  are  found  in  shops,  and  parlors,  and  drawing-rooms, 
and  houses  of  business,  in  this  world.  Many  a  wife  endures 
a  long  martyrdom,  in  comparison  of  which  the  sufferings  of 
St.  Genevieve  and  other  Komish  saints  and  saintesses  are  not 
to  be  spoken  of  Many  a  tradesman,  in  his  resolution  to  be 
honest  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  he  must  meet,  and  the  profits 
he  must  lose,  presents  a  spectacle  that  angels  admire,  and  that 
God's  benedictions  descend  upon.     Blessed  are  such. 

Be  steadfast,  immovable.  Right  is  in  the  long  run  might. 
"What  is  true  will  in  the  issue  be  triumphant :  for  God  is  with 
us  ;  and  if  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ? 

This  life  of  suffering  seems  scarcely  a  section  of  the  Blessed 
Life.  It  is  so,  nevertheless.  Inward  and  compensatory  com- 
fort outweighs  all  outward  suffering;  and  sorrow  is  not  always 
sadness,  nor  affliction  ever  unhappiness.  Our  reward  is  partly 
from  our  work.  We  must  prize  duty,  and  be  satisfied  with 
our  reward ;  the  lightning  deed,  not  the  applauding  thunder 
at  its  heels,  must  be  beautiful  to  us. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

BLESSEDNESSES. 

**  Lamb  of  God,  our  Priest  and  Pastor, 

Who  canst  bid  all  eyil  cease  ; 
Ever  dear  and  holy  Master, 

Make  our  feeble  love  increase  ! 
So  that  when  we  seek  Thee,  owning 

That  thy  wrath  is  our  deserts. 
Thou,  blest  Lord,  by  whose  atonement 

All  iniquity  departs, 
Mayest  speak  forth  from  thine  enthronement. 

To  our  rent  and  wearied  hearts. 
Sinner  go  in  peace." 

"  Blessed  is  he  whose  ti-ansgression  is  forgiven,  whose  sin  is  covered. 
Blessed  is  the  man  unto  whom  the  Lord  imputeth  not  iniquity."  —  Psalm 
32:  1,  2. 

This  is  a  benediction  pronounced  upon  those  who  are  truly 
the  people  of  God.  It  might  have  been  translated,  as,  indeed, 
in  the  first  Psalm  it  might  also  have  been  translated,  "  0,  the 
happinesses  of  him  whose  sin  is  forgiven  !  0,  the  happinesses 
of  that  man  whose  transgression  is  covered! "  The  word  in  the 
original  means  how  countless,  how  inexhaustible,  how  inde- 
scribable, are  the  blessings,  the  happinesses,  the  joys,  of  that 
man  whose  sins  are  forgiven,  whose  iniquities  are  covered ! 
The  word  of  God  is  a  treasury  of  benedictions ;  its  rare  and 
reluctant  record  is  a  curse,  its  frequent  and  most  joyous  utter- 
ances are  benedictions  upon  them  that  are  the  children  of 
God.  David  wrote  Psalm  Fifty-first  as  the  expression  of 
penitence ;  he  wrote  Psalm  Thirty -second  as  the  expression 


BLESSEDNESSES.  157 

of  his  praise.  The  fifty -first  was  breathed  out  under  a  deep 
sense  of  sin ;  the  thirty-second  was  sung  under  a  joyous 
recollection  of  forgiveness,  and  thankfulness  to  him  who  had 
blotted  out  all  his  sins,  and  put  away  all  his  iniquities. 

Whenever  the  Bible  records  a  benediction,  we  see  that  it  is 
never  upon  outer,  but  invariably  upon  inner  character.  A 
man  may  be  rich,  and  his  riches  may  yet  be  the  gift  of  God ; 
a  man  may  be  poor,  and  his  poverty  may  yet  be  the  mission 
of  God.  Riches  are  not  the  evidence  of  grace ;  poverty  is 
not  the  evidence  of  divine  abandonment :  the  one  and  the 
other  are  perfectly  compatible  with  utter  estrangement  from 
God,  or  with  regeneration  of  heart  and  spiritual  communion 
and  fellowship  with  him.  It  is  not  the  amount  that  a  man 
possesses  in  his  bank  that  makes  him  rich,  but  it  is  the 
amount  of  heart  that  he  buries  in  his  treasures,  that  consti- 
tutes the  riches  that  are  hateful  in  the  sight  of  God.  A  man 
who  has  but  a  few  hundred  pounds  in  the  bank  may  be  in  a 
sense  a  richer  man,  and  therefore  further  from  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  than  he  who  is  a  Tnillioriaire ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  who  has  thousands  upon  thousands  in  his  cofiers 
may  be  in  spirit,  and  in  the  estimate  of  God,  a  far  poorer 
man  than  the  other.  It  is  not  the  amount  that  we  have,  but 
the  tenacity  with  which  we  hold  it,  —  it  is  not  the  weight  of 
our  treasure,  but  the  amount  of  afi"ection  that  we  give  to  it, 
that  makes  us  perilously  rich  ;  and  "  how  hardly  shall  they 
that  have  riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  not  be- 
cause riches  themselves  are  an  obstruction,  but  because  the 
frequent  fact  and  the  predominating  tendency  is,  when  we 
have  riches,  to  think  too  much  about  them.  And  yet  a  man 
who  is  very  poor  may  be  more  troubled  about  providing  for 
to-morrow  than  a  man  who  is  very  rich  may  be  concerned 
about  his  riches.  It  is  not  poverty  nor  riches  that  we  should 
ask  :  but  "  Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches;  but  feed  me 
with  food  convenient  for  me."  God's  blessing  is  pronounced, 
14 


158  BLESSEDNESSES. 

not  upon  the  extremely  rich,  or  the  circumstantially  poor ; 
but  upon  those  whose  sins  are  forgiven,  whose  iniquities  are 
covered,  to  whom  the  Lord  imputeth  no  transgression.  The 
one  trait  that  is  singled  out  here  is  an  inner  one ;  —  he  may 
be  a  rich  man,-  it  matters  not ;  he  may  be  a  poor  man,  that 
matters  not ;  if  he  be  a  sin-forgiven  man,  that  is  the  charac- 
ter on  which  the  blessing  is  pronounced,  "Blessed  is  the  man 
whose  sin  is  forgiven." 

Language  is  here  exhausted  to  express  the  privilege  of  the 
man  whose  sin  is  forgiven,  whose  transgression  is  covered,  to 
whom  the  Lord  imputeth  no  iniquity.  Why  this  reiteration 
of  the  same  idea  ?  God  repeats  and  reiterates  expressions  in 
order  to  rivet  them  the  more  strongly  upon  the  hearts  of 
mankind.  When  the  late  Dr.  Chalmers  was  asked  to  what 
he  attributed  his  great  success  in 'preaching,  his  answer  was, 
"  Repetition."  ^  Now,  the  secret  of  very  much  of  the  power 
of  God's  word  is  that  the  same  idea,  like  a  precious  gem,  is 
placed  in  every  light,  is  exhibited  at  every  angle,  seen  in  all 
its  forms,  so  that  every  one  may  see  its  splendor,  be  capti- 
vated with  its  beauty,  and  pray  that  his  may  be  the  posses- 
sion of  that  jewel  of  great  and  inestimable  price.  Thus,  in 
order  to  convey  to  us  the  completeness  and  the  reality  of  the 
pardon  of  sin,  it  is  exhibited  in  every  possible  variety  of 
phrase,  —  "sins  forgiven,"  "transgressions  covered,"  "ini- 
quities put  away."  In  other  parts  we  read,  "  Though  your 
sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  white  as  snow  ;  though  they 
be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool."  Again,  "  I  will 
remember  their  sins  no  more;"  again,  "I  will  cast  them 
behind  my  back,"  "they  will  be  forgiven,"  "they  will  be 
covered,"  "they  will  be  forgotten."  Language  is  taxed  to 
the  utmost  in  order  to  convey  the  reality  of  God's  forgive- 
ness, and  the  intensity  of  his  purpose  to  forgive  the  sins  of 
all  them  that  believe.  "  Who  is  a  God  like  unto  thee,  —  that 
pardoneth  iniquity,  that  passeth  by  transgressions,  that  keep- 


BLESSEDNESSES.  159 

eth  not  his  anger  forever,  that  delighteth  in  mercy  ?"  Now, 
why  is  this  ?  Not  because  God  could  not  express  his  mind 
in  one  single  clause,  but  because  he  would  place  the  same 
great  idea  in  every  variety  of  light,  at  every  angle,  repeating 
and  reiterating  line  upon  line  and  precept  upon  precept,  till 
the  most  gifted  and  accomplished  of  mankind  should  see  noth- 
ing that  can  make  them  doubt,  and  the  most  humble,  whose 
minds  are  apt  to  go  astray  at  the  perplexities  of  the  week 
that  is  before  them,  or  the  recollected  difficulties  of  the  week 
that  is  past,  shall  feel  the  force  of  his  truth,  and  live  to  be 
sustained  thereby. 

This  expression,  however,  reminds  us  of  another  thing. 
He  says,  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  sins  are  forgiven,  to 
whom  the  Lord  imputeth  no  transgression,  whose  iniquities 
are  pardoned."  This  relates  plainly  to  a  clause  contained  in 
the  name  of  God.  In  Exodus,  chapter  thirty-third,  Moses 
says,  "  I  beseech  thee,  show  me  thy  glory."  God  says  to 
Moses,  "  I  will  make  all  my  goodness  pass  before  thee  ;"  and 
then  it  is  stated,  in  chapter  thirty-fourth,  that  he  passed  by 
and  proclaimed  the  name  of  the  Lord,  showing  that  God's 
mercy,  God's  goodness  and  God's  name,  are  one  and  the  same 
thing.  How  delightful  is  the  thought,  that  where  God's  good- 
ness is  most  clearly  exhibited,  there  God's  glory  is  most  bril- 
liantly revealed;  his  glory  is  best  seen  where  his  goodness  is 
most  felt !  When  he  passed  by,  and  proclaimed  his  name,  or 
his  goodness,  what  did  he  say  ?  "  The  Lord,  the  Lord  God 
merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  abundant  in  goodness 
and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity," 
—  that  is  one  sort  of  sin  ;  —  "  transgression,"  —  that  is 
another  sort; — "and  sin,"  —  that  is  a  third  sort.  And 
then,  says  the  Psalmist,  as  this  is  a  clause  or  attribute  of  God's 
name.  Blessed  is  the  man  in  whose  experience  this  name  is  a 
reality,  whose  transgression  is  forgiven,  whose  sin  is  covered, 
and  to  whom  the  Lord  imputeth  no  iniquity. 


160  ^.iJlsLESSEDNESSES. 


All  tliese  manifold  descriptions  of  forgiveness,  ttese  con- 
stant reiterations  of  God's  purpose  to  forgive  tlie  chiefest  of 
sinners  that  come  to  him,  are  revealed  to  us  in  and  through 
Christ  Jesus.  There  is  no  forgiveness  for  the  very  least  sin 
out  of  Christ ;  there  is  nothing  but  forgiveness  for  the  very 
greatest  sin  to  him  that  seeks  it  in  the  name  of  Christ.  When 
God's  name  was  proclaimed,  containing  this  clause,  "  Forgiv- 
ing iniquity,  transgression  and  sin,"  Moses  was  told  to  go 
into  "  a  cleft  of  the  rock."  That  rock,  says  an  apostle,  was 
Christ.  It  is  only,  therefore,  in  Christ,  believing  in  his  name, 
justified  by  his  righteousness,  accepted  through  him  as  the 
Mediator,  that  we  can  receive  as  actual  in  our  own  personal 
experience  this  blessedness  spoken  of  by  the  psalmist,  the 
blessedness  of  him  whose  sins  are  forgiven,  whose  iniquities 
are  covered,  and  to  whom  the  Lord  imputeth  nothing.  In 
Christ  we  have  remission  of  sins ;  through  him  we  have  for- 
giveness ;  and  David  believed  on  Christ  that  was  to  be  just 
as  we  believe  on  Christ  that  has  been  :  his  faith  prospective 
to  a  cross  that  dawned  dimly  in  the  distance  ;  our  faith  retro- 
spective to  a  cross  on  which  the  victim  hung,  and  from  which 
he  proclaimed  the  joyous  announcement  that  breaks  in  rever- 
berations of  sweet  music  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
realms  of  the  universe.  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  trans- 
gression is  forgiven."  "  It  is  finished ;  "  in  Christ  we  have 
redemption,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins. 

What  is  the  special  blessedness  of  the  man  whose  sins  are 
thus  forgiven,  and  whose  iniquities  are  thus  covered  ?  In 
what  does  this  blessedness  consist?  Literally. translated,  it 
is,  "  0,  the  many  blessednesses  of  the  man  whose  transgression 
is  forgiven  !  "  Now,  what  are  some  of  the  blessednesses  ?  I 
will  state  them  very  plainly.  The  first  is  perfect  satisfaction 
of  judgment  and  of  conscience  with  the  way  in  which  sin  is 
forgiven.  If  God  were  to  forgive  sin  arbitrarily,  in  spite  of 
his  holy  law,  I  feel  I  could  not  have  confidence  in  him.     I 


BLESSEDNESSES.  161 

must  see  God  as  tenacious  in  the  maintenance  of  his  law  as 
he  is  rich  in  the  exhibition  of  his  mercy,  or  I  never  can  have 
unfaltering  confidence  and  perfect  peace  in  the  knowledge  of 
him.  If  I  saw  that  God  could  violate  his  law  in  order  to 
forgive  a  sinner,  I  must  conclude  that  he  may  sacrifice  a  sin- 
ner in  order  to  maintain  on  some  other  occasion  his  law;  but 
when  I  see  that  pardon  to  the  greatest  sinner  is  perfectly 
compatible  with  the  maintenance  of  the  strictest  requirement 
of  his  holy  law ;  when  I  see  that  God  is  not  only  merciful,  but 
just  -to  forgive  me ;  and  that  he  is  as  holy  when  he  admits 
through  Christ  the  greatest  sinner  to  his  bosom  as  he  is  when 
he  sentences  to  punishment  the  greatest  criminal  that  rejects 
Christ, — then  I  have  confidence  in  him,  and  my  conscience  has 
peace  in  the  knowledge  of  that  forgiveness.  Such  sweet  and 
satisfied  sense  of  perfect  reliance  on  God  is  part  of  the  blessed- 
ness of  him  whose  transgression  is  forgiven  and  whose  iniqui- 
ties are  covered. 

Another  portion  of  this  blessedness  is  the  joy  that  we  feel 
when  we  are  conscious  of  having  found  the  way  that  leads' to 
heaven  and  to  happiness.  What  is  the  state  of  every  man 
by  nature  ?  One  who  knows  that  there  is  a  God,  but  does 
not  know  what  he  is  to  him ;  who  is  persuaded  that  there  is 
an  eternity,  but  knows  not  whether  that  eternity  shall  be  to 
him  an  eternity  of  joy  or  an  eternity  of  sorrow.  Ignorance 
here  is  torment.  Let  a  man  who  has  a  conscience  be  ignorant 
of  the  nature  of  God,  and  he  must,  in  proportion  to  the  activ- 
ity of  his  conscience,  feel  distress  ;  but  to  know  now  that  the 
God  of  the  Bible  is  a  sin-forgiving  God,  —  to  know  that  he  that 
made  the  universe,  stretched  out  the  firmament,  and  lighted 
up  all  its  countless  lamps,  descends  to  forgive  my  sin,  to  blot 
out  my  iniquities,  and  to  persuade  me  by  frequent  and  reiter- 
ated eloquence  that  he  does  forgive,  and  desires  to  forgive, 
and  has  no  pleasure -in  the  death,  but  in  the  salvation  of  the 
simicr,  and  that  the  way  to  heaven  is  Christ,  the  way  of  par- 
14# 


162  BLESSEDNESSES. 

don  and  peace,  —  0,  that  is  indeed  a  blessedness  which  angel? 
envy,  and  which  aliens  from  the  Gospel  can  have  no  sympathy 
with,  or  experience  of! 

A  third  portion  of  that  blessedness  which  belongs  to  him 
whose  transgression  is  forgiven,  and  whose  sins  are  covered, 
is  perfect  peace  of  conscience  and  of  heart, — not  merely  acqui- 
escence in  God,  and  confidence  in  God,  as  we  have  already 
said,  but  perfect  peace  of  conscience  and  of  heart.  Now  every 
man  that  has  a  heart  that  beats  has  a  conscience  that  is  sen- 
sitively quick  to  the  presence  of  sin  and  its  penalty.  Every 
one,  even  the  worst  criminal,  fallen  by  nature  and  hardened 
by  his  rejection  of  the  Gospel,  yet  feels  within  him  a  monitor 
unseen,  but  not  altogether  dead ;  the  echo  of  the  curse  pro- 
nounced in  Paradise  still  reverberates  in  the  depths  of  every 
human  conscience.  Conscience  may  be  stupefied  for  an  hour, 
but  it  is  only  that  it  may  awake  and  reason  in  more  terrible 
and  piercing  eloqueiace  of  righteousness,  and  temperance,  and 
judgment. 

Man's  conscience  never  can  be  at  peace  until  it  finds  that 
sin  can  be  forgiven.  He  feels  that  there  is  sin  within  him, 
and  penalty  above  him.  But,  as  soon  as  he  sees  that  the  sin 
and  the  penalty  can  be  blotted  out  forever  through  the  blood 
of  sprinkling, — the  atonement  of  Christ  Jesus  ;  that  this  blood 
cleanseth  from  all  sin ;  that  this  righteousness  delivers  from 
all  judgment ;  that  in  Christ  it  is  as  impossible  that  I  should 
be  condemned  as  it  is  impossible  that  I  should  be  saved  out 
of  him,  —  the  peace  that  passeth  understanding  spreads  like  an 
atmosphere  over  his  heart  and  conscience ;  and,  justified  by 
faith,  we  have  peace  with  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
This  is  blessedness.  And  we  cannot  have  blessedness  with- 
out it.  Feed  your  palate  with  all  the  luxuries  of  the  East ; 
clothe  your  person  in  all  the  drapery  and  robes  of  oriental 
magnificence ;  ride  in  carriages,  and  have  hundreds  to  wait 
upon  you  and  minister  to  your  wants;  there  is  something 


BLESSEDNESSES.  1G3 

within,  as  long  as  you  are  a  stranger  to  the  power  of  Christ's 
religion,  that,  like  a  worm  in  the  bud,  will  gnaw  out  the  very 
pith  and  life  of  your  peace,  and  make  you  poor,  and  wretched, 
and  miserable.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  let  God's  peace  be 
fixed  in  the  heart,  and  poured  as  balm  into  the  conscience, 
and  you  may  be  clothed  in  rags,  yet  you  will  be  happy ;  you 
may  scarcely  have  food  to  eat,  yet  you  will  be  happy ;  and 
in  the  loss  and  departure  of  all  that  man  loves,  and  in  the 
endurance  and  experience  of  all  that  man  dreads,  you  will  be 
able  yet  to  exclaim,  "  Though  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blossom, 
though  the  olive-tree  shall  fail,  though  there  shall  be  no  herd 
in  the  stall,  yet  will  I  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  and  joy  in  the  God 
of  my  salvation." 

Is  not  this  blessedness  ?  It  is  not  a  mere  theory ;  it  is  not 
a  dream  of  the  imagination ;  there  are  thousands  that  know 
it  and  feel  it ;  there  are  many  that  have  not  perfect  peace, 
but  yet  they  know  that  the  little  peace  they  have  fron  the 
knowledge  of  this  blessed  Saviour  is  so  deep,  and  so  true,  that 
they  would  not  give  it  up  for  coronets  and  crowns,  and  all  the 
wealth  and  possessions  of  the  wide  world  itself. 

This  blessedness  will  also  consist  in  perfect  confidence  in 
God's  providential  government,  as  a  government  that  aids  our 
progress  and  ministers  to  our  good.  The  moment  that  a 
man's  sins  are  forgiven  in  Christ,  everything  that  is  penal  or 
punitive  in  the  providential  government  of  God  is  exhausted 
and  put  away  forever.  As  long  as  we  are  strangers  to  the 
Gospel  of  Christ,  whatever  betides  us  is  the  act  of  a  judge 
punishing  a  culprit ;  but  the  instant  that  we  are  raised  from 
the  lowly  platform  of  our  ruin,  and  placed  upon  the  sunlit 
table-land  of  acceptance  before  God  in  Christ,  everything 
penal  is  exhausted  from  every  dispensation,  and  the  element 
of  paternal  goodness  inspires,  directs  and  governs,  all  that 
befalls  us.  The  least  shower  that  falls  on  a  stranger  to 
Christ  is  judgment;  the  hurricane  that  beats  upon  the  believer 


164  BLESSEDNESSES. 

has  only  mercy  under  its  wings.  All  things  work  for  evil  to 
them  that  are  not  in  Christ ;  all  things  work  for  good  to  them 
that  love  God,  and  are  the  called  according  to  his  purpose. 
There  is  no  cross  wind  in  the  believer's  voyage ;  there  is  no 
adverse  storm  in  his  movement  to  the  haven  of  everlasting 
rest ;  what  feels  so  and  seems  so,  and  by  the  world  is  con- 
strued to  be  so,  is  only  mercy  in  disguise.  The  cloud  that  is 
so  black,  that  to  the  world  is  charged  with  judgment,  is  to  the 
believer  only  bright  with  benedictions,  and,  when  it  bursts 
upon  him,  he  feels  and  rejoices  in  God  his  Saviour.  No  evil 
can  befall  him  who  is  Christ's  ;  he  is  immortal  till  his  work 
is  done ;  all  things  minister  to  him ;  nothing  can  separate  him 
from  Christ.  All  things,  believer,  are  yours  ;  Paul,  or  Apol- 
los,  or  Cephas,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or  things 
to  come ;  all  are  yours,  ministers  to  your  good,  vehicles  of 
blessing  to  you  because  you  are  Christ's,  and  in  Christ  your 
transgressions  are  forgiven,  your  iniquities  are  covered,  and 
the  Lord  imputeth  to  you  no  transgression. 

Another  part  of  this  blessedness  consists  in  communion 
with  God.  A  mere  stranger  to  the  Gospel,  hearing  one  speak 
of  a  Christian's  communion  with  God,  will  say,  that  is  one  of 
your  theological  phrases  which  I  do  not  understand  ;  or,  that 
is  a  fanaticism  in  your  creed  which  I  cannot  enter  into.  But 
it  is  not  fanaticism  ;  it  is  not  a  mere  phrase ;  it  is  reality.  Is 
there  communion  between  friend  and  friend?  Is  there  a 
friend  who  reciprocates  your  sorrows;  is  there  a  heart  in 
which  your  troubles  and  griefs  have  a  responding  echo  ?  Or, 
are  you  alone  in  this  world,  insulated  from  its  sympathies  ;  in 
it,  but  not  of  it  in  any  sense  whatever  ?  This  is  impossible  ; 
everybody  has  some  one  with  whom  he  is  in  communion,  to 
whom  he  goes  to  tell  his  last  sorrow,  into  whose  ear  he  pours 
his  first  joy,  from  whose  heart  he  can  calculate  upon  sympa- 
thy, and  from  whose  purse,  when  he  needs  it,  he  can  look  for 
aid.     With  that  person  you  are  in  communion  ;  v/ith  him  you 


BLESSEDNESSES.  165 

have  fellowship.  And  shall  it  be  impossible  for  those  that 
have  fellowship,  man  with  man,  to  have  fellowship  with  God  ? 
Can  I  not  go  to  him  who  fills  the  universe  with  his  presence, 
and  tell  him  what  mj  troubles  are,  and  my  trials,  and  my 
sorrows,  and  my  fears,  and  my  hopes,  and  my  joys  ?  Is  it 
possible  that  he  that  governs  the  atom  and  controls  the  arch- 
angel cannot  minister  to  my  wants,  open  his  hand  and  satisfy 
my  desires,  sympathize  with  my  sorrows,  and  rejoice  in  my 
prospects  ?  Is  communion  with  a  creature  possible,  and  com- 
munion with  God  impossible?  Is  earth  so  insulated  from 
heaven  that  there  is  a  great  chasm  between  them,  that  we  can- 
not go  to  God,  and  that  God  cannot  come  to  us  ?  That  is 
true  of  hell,  but  it  is  not  true  of  earth  ;  and  wherever  the  sin 
is  forgiven,  the  iniquity  covered,  the  transgression  put  away, 
there  the  grand  obstruction  to  communion  with  God  is 
removed,  and  in  the  place  of  sin,  the  obstructing  element,  is 
Christ;  the  uniting  element,  and  communion  with  God  is  no 
more  a  poet's  dream,  but  a  Christian's  real  and  blessed  expe- 
rience. Then  blessed  is  that  man  whose  transgression  is  for- 
given, whose  sin  is  covered. 

When  our  sins  are  pardoned,  our  hearts  begin  to  be  sanc- 
tified. God  never  forgives  a  man's  sins  without  sending  his 
Spirit  to  sanctify  his  heart.  The  expiation  of  our  sin  through 
Christ's  blood  is  the  preliminary  to  the  extirpation  of  our 
sins  by  Christ's  Holy  Spirit.  Now,  when  our  sins  are  for- 
given, and  our  iniquities  covered,  it  is  part  of  a  believer's 
blessedness  that  his  inclination  and  his  duty  will  very  much 
correspond  with  each  other.  As  long  as  one  is  an  unrepent- 
ant sinner,  this  is  duty,  and  you  know  it  and  see  it ;  but  that 
is  inclination,  and  you  feel  it  and  give  way  to  it.  As  long  as 
we  are  strangers  to  the  Gospel,  our  inclinations  and  our 
duties  are  in  direct  antagonism  to  each  other ;  but  the  mo- 
ment the  heart  is  made  new,  and  the  nature  changed,  our 
duties  and  our  inclinations  progressively  merge  and  melt  into 


166  BLESSEDNESSES. 

one  current.  I  do  not  say  that  there  will  not  be  in  the  old 
man  inclinations,  that  will  struggle,  antagonistic  to  the  new 
nature ;  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  a  believer  will  be  perfect 
in  this  life ;  but  I  do  mean  to  say  that  the  main  drift  of  a 
believer's  inclinations  will  be  in  the  direction  of  duty ;  that 
the  channel  of  duty  will  convey  the  flood  of  his  afifections, 
that  what  he  sees  to  be  right  will  be  more  and  more  what  he 
is  disposed  to  do.  It  is  impossible  to  overstate  the  blessed- 
ness of  having  a  heart  ever  ready  to  pursue  duty,  and  inclin- 
ations ever  prepared  to  run  parallel  with  the  prescriptions 
of  the  word  of  God. 

He  whose  sins  are  thus  forgiven  will  enjoy  blessedness  in 
a  dying  hour.  Sin  is  the  sting  of  death ;  and  when  sin  is 
expiated  by  the  Saviour's  blood,  the  sting  of  death  is  extracted, 
and  forever.  To  the  natural  man  dying  still  is  death ;  to 
the  child  of  God  it  is  not  death,  but  transition.  To  the  unre- 
newed man  death  is  still  the  spectre,  the  poursuivant  summon- 
ing the  criminal  to  the  judgment-seat  of  his  Judge ;  but  to  the 
child  of  God  it  is  but  the  messenger  of  Jesus,  sprinkled  with 
his  atoning  blood,  telling  the  believer,  "  Your  home  is  now 
ready,  your  warfare  is  finished,  your  work  is  done ;  enter  into 
the  joy  of  your  Lord.  Gome,  and  be  blessed  and  happy  for- 
ever and  forever."  The  Psalmist  speaks  of  death's  "  shadow," 
—  "  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death."  That  one  clause  is  most  eloquently  suggestive, — 
*'  the  shadow  of  death."  There  is  no  shadow,  we  know, 
when  there  is  no  sunshine.  A  man  goes  out  on  a  dark  night, 
and  there  is  no  shadow,  because  there  is  no  light.  Death 
would  have  no  shadow,  if  there  were  not  sunshine.  And 
what  is  that  sunshine  ?  The  light  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness. 
The  fact,  then,  that  death  is  spoken  of  as  the  shadow  of 
death  indicates  that  we  are  walking  amid  celestial  sunshine, 
and  that  what  stretches  across  our  path,  and  seems  to  us,  it 
may  be,  a  formidable  obstruction,  we  may  quietly  tread  upon, 


BLESSEDNESSES.  167 

and  mount  up  in  our  majestic  progress  to  the  realms  of  glory. 
Death  is  an  airy  and  an  unsubstantial  shadow,  and  nothing 
more. 

Blessed,  then,  is  he  whose  sins  are  forgiven  ;  for  he  departs 
in  peace,  his  eyes  having  seen  the  Lord's  salvation.  "  I  am 
ready,"  says  the  apostle,  "to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ, 
which  is  far  better."  That  hour  which  comes  to  you,  believer, 
and  comes  to  all,  is  not  extinction,  but  a  glorious  and  beau- 
tiful exchange ;  the  sun  of  life  that  sets  behind  the  hills  of 
the  west  does  so  to  rise  in  a  more  beauteous  and  everlasting 
east.  You  do  not  die,  you  do  not  close  your  life ;  but  you 
pass  from  death  to  life,  from  a  life  which  ends  every  day  to 
a  life  whose  full  tide  knows  no  ebbing.  Absence  from  the 
body  is  presence  with  the  Lord,  —  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whose 
transgression  is  forgiven;"  and,  therefore,  "Blessed  are  the 
dead  that  die  in  the  Lord ;  for  they  rest  from  their  labors, 
and  their  works  do  follow  them." 

Such  are  blessed  at  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ ;  for  the 
blessed  summons  will  be  addressed  to  them  from  him  that 
sitteth  on  the  throne,  "  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit 
the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world."  The  inner  blessedness  becomes  outer;  the  rivulet 
of  joy  becomes  an  ocean ;  in  this  world  joy  enters  into  us ; 
in  the  world  to  come  we  enter  into  joy.  That  judgment-seat 
where  we  hear  the  blessing  is  only  the  vestibule  and  portal 
to  that  everlasting  future  which  is  all  benediction  and  blessed- 
ness ;  where  the  believer  enters  into  the  inner  court,  and 
lives  in  communion  with  the  Saviour  himself;  where  is  a  table 
at  which  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  shall  sit  down ; 
where  we  shall  meet  and  mingle  with  our  children,  and  our 
parents,  and  our  brothers,  and  our  sisters,  and  all  that  live 
having  their  sins  forgiven,  and  die  blessed  in  the  Lord,  resting 
from  their  labors,  while  their  works  do  follow  them. 

Is  this  blessedness  ours  ?     Are  our  sins  forgiven  ?     It  is 


168  BLESSEDNESSES. 

not  possible  to  be  happy  except  bj  having  our  sins  forgiven ; 
it  is  not  possible  to  be  wretched  if  we  are  persuaded  that  they 
are  forgiven.  Pardon  of  sin  is  of  the  essence  of  the  blessed 
life.  It  is  the  preface  to  happiness,  the  source  of  peace,  the 
earnest  of  everlasting  joy.  It  is  cheap  as  summer,  glorious 
as  sunshine.  For  him  that  has  it,  it  is  as  natural  to  be  happy 
as  for  grass  to  be  green  and  flowers  to  bloom. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE   JOYOUS   FESTIVAL. 

*< Dreams  cannot  picture  a  world  so  fair; 
Sorrow  and  death  may  not  enter  there. 
Time  doth  not  breathe  on  its  faithless  bloom  ; 
Far  beyond  the  clouds  and  beyond  the  tomb  — 
It  is  there  —  it  is  there,  my  child." 

"  And  ho  saith  unto  me.  Write,  Blessed  are  they  which  are  called  unto 
the  marriage-supper  of  the  Lamb.  And  he  saith  unto  me,  These  are  the 
true  sayings  of  God."  —  Eev.  19  :  9. 

The  marriage-supper  of  the  Lord  is  the  finale  of  an  ardu- 
ous struggle,  the  close  of  a  long  and  weary  race,  the  end 
of  this  dispensation,  the  preface  to  the  next.  It  is  a  glorious 
and  a  joyous  festival;  the  hour,  not  of  sorrowful  remin- 
iscences, but  of  glad  ones.  Bright  faces  appear  at  it,  bound- 
ing hearts  beat  there.  It  is  a  marriage-festival,  and  so 
the  most  joyous  of  all.  The  heroes  that  fought  and  conquered 
at  "Waterloo  used  to  meet  in  this  great  city  on  the  eighteenth 
of  June  to  commemorate  a  battle  and  a  victory,  of  which  a 
thirty  or  a  forty  years'  peace  seems,  under  God,  the  joyous 
fruit  and  effect ;  but  here  we  meet  at  a  gladder  festival,  under 
the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  who  lives  forever,  to  commemo- 
rate a  victory  over  sin  and  Satan,  and  all  the  elements  of  evil, 
and  to  remember  thankfully  the  struggles  and  the  trials  of  the 
soldiers  of  Christ,  who  overcame  through  the  blood  of  the 
Lamo,  and  have  exchanged  the  sword  of  the  warrior  for  the 
15 


170  THE    JOYOUS    FESTIVAL. 

wreath  of  the  conqueror,  and  are  ever  in  the  presence  of  the 
Lord. 

This  festival  is  the  evidence  of  the  final  completeness  of 
the  election  of  God.  The  Bride  is  only  the  collective  name 
of  those  that  are  clothed  in  white  robes.  Therefore,  on  this 
occasion,  when  the  bride  is  presented  to  the  bridegroom,  —  that 
is,  when  the  whole  company  of  the  redeemed,  out  of  every 
kindred,  and  nation,  and  people,  and  tribe,  and  tongue,  form- 
ing one  bright  and  sparkling  group,  stand  before  the  Lamb, 
by  whose  blood  they  were  redeemed  in  whose  white  raiment 
they  are  clad,  and  whose  praises  they  celebrate  and  sing,  — 
there  will  then  be  seen  the  completed  company  of  the  people 
of  God,  not  one  son  missing,  not  one  heir  of  glory  wanting ; 
the  last  stone  is  laid  on  the  temple,  the  last  sheep  is  gathered 
into  the  fold,  the  last  stray  child  restored  to  his  home,  and  we 
are  complete  in  number  as  in  character,  in  the  home  and  pres- 
ence of  our  Father. 

This  festival  will  be  the  solemn  amen  to  all  the  promises, 
the  prophecies,  and  purposes  of  God,  affecting  this  dispensa- 
tion. "  Hallelujah  "  will  swell  from  more  joyous  hearts  than 
ever  felt  it  before,  as  we  see  and  feel  that  heaven  and  earth 
have  passed  away,  but  not  a  jot  or  tittle  has  dropped  from  the 
least  or  the  loftiest  promises,  till  all  have  been  fulfilled.  And 
when  we  see  him,  whom  having  not  seen  we  love,  and  in 
whom,  though  now  we  see  him  not,  yet  believing  we  rejoice 
with  joy  unspeakable,  we  shall  own  that  when  we  read  in  psalms 
and  prophecies  of  his  glory,  and  heard  from  most  eloquent 
lips  the  delineations  of  his  beauty,  we  were  not  told  half  his 
excellency,  or  half  his  greatness.  We  shall  then  see  every 
promise  fulfilled,  every  prophecy  translated  into  history,  every 
description  of  the  beauty  and  the  blessedness  of  the  life  to 
come  no  longer  portrait,  but  reality.  In  nothing  have  we 
been  deceived;  nothing  do  we  find  to  have  been  overstated; 
everything,  on  the  contrary,  seems  to  have  been  understated ; 


THE    JOYOUS    FESTIVAL.  171 

for  we  did  not  expect  that  so  great,  so  magnificent,  would  be 
the  gloiy,  the  splendor,  and  the  blessedness,  of  that  last  and 
crowning  festival. 

This  feast  or  marriage-supper,  too,  will  be  a  scene  of  praise. 
A  voice,  a  solitary  voice,  loud  and  beautiful,  will  come  from 
the  midst  of  the  throne  —  "  Praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  servants 
of  his  !  "  and  that  key-note  will  instantly  awaken  from  all  the 
glorious  choirs  of  the  universe  ten  thousand  times  ten  thou- 
sand glad  voices,  even  here  the  most  musical  sounds  of  all, 
singing  "  Hallelujah,  for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth." 
How  transporting  the  scene  !  How  joyous  the  song  !  Is  it 
not  worth  while  to  seek  a  place  in  that  choir  ?  How  desira- 
ble will  be  a  seat  in  that  group  !  How  certain  will  both  be 
to  them  who  are  clad  in  white  raiment,  and  are  now  the  follow- 
ers of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  !  When  the  Israelites  of  old  were 
pursued  by  Pharaoh,  and  crossed  the  sea  dry-shod,  and  stood 
upon  the  opposite  strand,  and  looked  back,  and  saw  Pharaoh 
and  all  his  chivalry  sink  like  lead  into  the  mighty  waters, 
Miriam  struck  her  harp,  and  all  the  prophets  of  G.od  sounded 
theirs,  and  the  whole  multitude  sang  then  the  song  of  Moses; 
but  this  song  will  be  more  glorious  still,  for  it  will  be  the  song 
of  Moses  and  the  Lamb  —  it  will  commemorate  the  destruc- 
tion of  worse  enemies,  and  it  will  celebrate  the  achievement 
of  a  triumph  in  comparison  of  which  all  victories  have  been 
defeats,  all  history  insipid,  and  all  experience  sad. 

This  festival  will  be  attended  by  a  company  that  never  met 
together  before.  Now  we  all  gather  around  the  same  throne ; 
but  we  cannot  all  see  each  other.  There  are  in  this  world 
thousands  and  thousands  of  worshippers  who  day  by  day  pros- 
trate themselves  at  the  same  footstool,  and  gaze  toward  the 
same  everlasting  Sun ;  but  they  cannot  see  each  other,  nor 
could  we  ever  be  placed  in  circumstances  in  this  world  where 
we  could  each  and  all  see  as  we  are  seen.  Whilst  we  are 
worshipping  upon  earth,  our  children   and  our  gray-haired 


172  THE   JOYOUS   FESTIVAL. 

fathers  that  have  preceded  us  are  worshipping  the  same  God, 
in  the  name  of  the  same  Lamb  ;  but  they  are  in-door  while  we 
are  out-door  worshippers ;  they  are  in  the  sun-lit  cathedral 
above,  we  in  the  gloomy  crypt  below.  These  we  cannot  now 
see ;  but  at  that  day,  when  we  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham, 
and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  at  that  fes- 
tival which  Christ  shall  spread,  and  which  John  describes,  we 
shall  meet  with  patriarchs,  and  prophets,  and  martyrs,  and 
reformers ;  we  shall  mingle  with  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the 
prophets,  with  the  noble  army  of  martyrs,  with  the  glorious 
company  of  the  apostles,  with  Christ's  holy  church  throughout 
all  the  world ;  and  I  can  scarcely  conceive  a  song  more  worthy 
the  occasion  than  the  hymn,  —  certainly  uninspired,  because 
not  in  the  Bible,  but  nearest  to  inspiration,  if  it  be  not  so,  — 
"  We  praise  thee,  0  God,  we  acknowledge  thee  to  be  the 
Lord.  All  the  earth  doth  worship  thee,  the  Father  everlast- 
ing. To  thee  cherubim  and  seraphim  continually  do  cry, 
Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  the  Lord  God  of  hosts ;  heaven  and  earth 
are  full  of  thy  glory."  Then,  as  never  before,  the  glorious 
company  of  the  apostles  will  praise  him,  the  noble  army  of 
martyrs  will  praise  him,  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets 
will  praise  him,  and  there  will  be  heard  the  prophets'  strain 
upon  the  people's  lips,  lifted  up  with  an  emphasis  and  a  grand- 
eur with  which  it  was  never  uttered  upon  earth — "Thou 
art  the  King  of  glory,  0  Christ ;  thou  art  the  everlasting  Son 
of  the  Father.  When  thou  tookest  upon  thee  to  deliver  man, 
thou  didst  not  abhor  the  Virgin's  womb.  When  thou  hadst 
overcome  the  sharpness  of  death,  thou  didst  open  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  to  all  believers.  Hallelujah,  the  Lord  God  omnip- 
otent reigneth." 

One  feature  is  worthy  of  special  notice ;  it  is  called  the 
marriage-supper  of  the  Lamh.  How  beautiful  is  this  !  It  is 
not  the  marriage-supper  of  the  Lord  of  lords  and  King  of 
kings ;    but  here,   as,  indeed,  wherever  in  the   Apocalypse 


THE   JOYOUS   FESTIVAL.  173 

Christ's  glory  Is  spoken  of,  there  is  seen  on  it  and  by  it  — ■ 
shall  I  call  it  the  shadow  of  Christ's  cross  ?  —  Jesus  is  seen 
upon  the  throne  as  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  The  very  marriage-festival  that  crowns  the  close  of 
this  age,  and  starts  the  commencement  of  the  next,  is  the 
marriage-supper  of  the  Lamb ;  as  if  the  cross  and  the  crown 
were  inseparable,  as  if  the  sufferings  and  the  glory  will  be 
sung  in  one  blended  strain  while  the  years  of  eternity  roll. 
What  he  paid  on  earth  will  never  be  forgotten,  as  we  enjoy 
what  he  has  prepared  for  us  in  heaven.  Ever,  as  we  gaze  at 
his  crown,  we  shall  recollect  his  cross,  and  amid  all  the  splen- 
dors of  the  blessed  Calvary,  Gethsemane,  the  agony,  the  bloody 
sweat  and  passion,  will  never  be  merged.  These  are  too 
precious  ever  to  cease  to  be  sung,  or  celebrated  in  the  choirs 
of  the  happy. 

"  The  bride  hath  made  herself  ready."  This  is  the  mar- 
riage-supper of  the  Lamb,  and  the  bride  is  there,  of  course. 
Who  is  she  ?  It  is  the  collective  name,  as  we  have  said 
before,  for  the  whole  company  of  the  people  of  God.  The 
church  is  the  collection  of  all  the  living  stones  chosen  out  of 
the  world  ;  the  bride,  the  aggregate  of  all  believers  in  Christ ; 
the  election,  according  to  grace ;  and,  therefore,  "  they  that 
are  called  "  to  this  festival  constitute  together  the  bride,  or 
the  church,  as  it  has  grown  in  bulk  from  the  commencement 
of  the  world. 

This  call  is  not  to  the  same  feast  as  that  recorded  in  the 
Gospel.  There  some  were  called  who  refused ;  —  one  went  to 
his  farm,  another  to  his  merchandise,  and  another  to  his  cat- 
tle ;  but  here  none  refuse,  because  they  that  are  called  to 
this  last  feast  previously  obeyed  the  invitation  to  the  first. 
None  shall  come  to  the  marriage-supper  of  the  Lamb  who  did 
not,  in  time,  and  on  earth,  accept  the  invitation  to  the  feast 
prepared  by  the  great  King.  None  invited  here  will  refuse  ; 
for  blessed  are  they  that  are  called  to  it.  Not  one  will  hesi- 
15=^ 


174  THE   JOYOUS    FESTIVAL. 

tate.  Having  tasted  of  the  bread  of  life  and  drunk  of  the 
wine  of  the  kingdom  upon  earth,  they  joyMly  drink  it 
now  in  heaven.  They  here  occupy  a  loftier  platform,  at  a 
yet  more  glorious  festival.  Here  is  not  only  nutriment,  as 
there  was  at  the  first,  but  enjoyment  also.  They  that  are 
called  to  this  are  all  true  believers,  all  that  are  justified 
through  Christ's  righteousness,  and  regenerated  by  his  Spirit : 
they  rested  on  earth  upon  his  sacrifice  by  faith ;  they  are 
clothed  bj  his  righteousness  as  theii-  bridal  dress ;  they  have 
followed  the  Lamb,  his  name  is  on  their  foreheads,  his  love 
is  in  their  hearts ;  and  now  each  king  has  a  crown  on  his  brow, 
each  priest  a  censer  in  his  hand.  They  are  described  in 
the  fifth  of  Matthew,  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart.  Blessed 
are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness.  Blessed 
are  the  peacemakers.  Blessed  are  they  that  are  persecuted 
for  righteousness'  sake.  Blessed  are  the  meek."  These  are 
the  features,  these  the  signatures,  of  that  bright  company,  that 
crowned  bride,  these  partakers  of  the  blessedness  of  the  great 
festival  of  the  Lamb. 

No  national,  ecclesiastical,  or  party  or  sectarian  features 
and  characteristics,  are  retained  in  heaven.  I  know  no  book 
so  fitted  to  give  one  a  catholic  spirit  as  the  book  of  Bevela- 
tion.  In  no  part  of  the  Bible  is  spiritual  and  inner  charac- 
ter so  exclusively  predominant.  All  the  drapery  of  circum- 
stance, of  nationalism,  of  sectarianism,  seems  to  have  dropped 
away,  as  only  fitted  to  stain  the  bridal  robes  of  the  bride,  or 
to  introduce  a  discord  into  the  harmonies  and  the  hallelujahs 
of  the  blessed.  These  bridal  guests  retain  not  one  trace  of 
sublunary  distinctions,  not  a  vestige  of  ecclesiastical  connec- 
tion; they  never  received,  or  early  renounced,  the  mark  of  the 
beast ;  they  are  the  blessed  dead  that  died  in  the  Lord,  and 
now  rest  from  their  labors,  while  their  works  do  follow  them. 

Let  us  notice  the  special  nature  of  the  blessing  :  "  Blessed 
are  they  that  are  called.'-     The  word  called  is  not  here  sim- 


THE   JOYOUS   FESTIVAL.  175 

ply  a  summons,  but  a  mark  of  the  elect.  Those  that  are 
called  or  invited  to  this  feast  are  God's  own  people,  the  holy 
and  happy  company  of  the  saved,  the  sons  of  God,  the  heirs  of 
glory.  It  is  on  spiritual  character  that  God  strikes  his  bless- 
ing. How  often  do  we  look  at  wealth,  and  learning,  and 
power,  and  say,  "  How  happy  are  they !  "  But  God  does  not 
pronounce  these  happy.  Theirs  is  not  real  and  tme  sub- 
stance. The  higher  men  are  raised  in  society,  the  less  they 
have  of  happiness.  The  ordinary  level  is  the  place  of  the 
greatest  happiness.  To  be  very  much  above  it,  or  very  much 
below  it,  is  not  well.  As  we  witness  the  splendid  equipage 
of  the  rich,  the  great,  and  the  noble,  if  we  could  only  look 
within,  we  should  see  hearts  more  crowded  with  cares  that, 
like  vipers,  exhaust  the  very  life-blood,  than  we  find  in  the 
bosom  of  the  man  who  works  for  his  daily  bread,  and  lies 
down  and  sleeps  sweetly  at  night  after  the  fatigues  of  the 
day.  But  in  the  Bible,  and  throughout  all  its  records,  the 
blessing  is  pronounced  upon  the  holy  heart,  not  upon  the  heavy 
purse ;  upon  inner  character,  not  upon  outer  distinctions.  It 
is  expressed  in  the  words,  "  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father, 
inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world." 

Those  that  are  invited  are  blessed,  because  it  is  a  festival 
so  distinctively  and  especially  happy.  There  is  no  alloy  of 
fear,  or  misgiving,  or  sorrow,  mingled  with  it.  The  reader 
may  have  attended  a  bridal,  or  other  festival.  Jesus  graced 
a  marriage-festival  before  he  joined  in  a  funeral  procession; 
his  first  miracle  was  to  sweeten  the  joys  of  the  happy,  before 
he  went  forth  to  stanch  the  sorrows  and  to  dry  the  tears  of  the 
mourner  and  the  weeping.  But,  when  we  have  been  present 
at  the  brightest  festival  that  ever  was  celebrated  upon  earth, 
have  we  not  been  conscious  of  a  sort  of  under-current  of  sad- 
ness started  from  the  deep  and  hidden  springs  of  the  heart 
by  the  very  brilliancy  of  the  scene  ?     We  have   felt  in  our 


176  THE   JOYOUS   FESTIVAL. 

minds  presentiments  of  coming  sorrow.  Shadows,  we  knew 
not  why  or  whence,  have  swept  over  the  soul  and  clouded  it ; 
we  could  not  help  feeling  amid  the  scene,  These  hearts  that 
are  bounding  will  soon  be  breaking.  Often  have  the  chimes  of 
the  marriage-bell  mingled  with  the  toll  that  announced  the 
departure  of  the  near  and  the  dear.  I  have,  therefore,  never 
been  able  to  gaze  upon  the  brightest  scene  that  ever  shone  on 
society,  bright  as  if  it  were  a  patch  of  heaven's  own  sunshine, 
without  feeling  presentiments  of  sadness  and  intermingling 
sorrow.  A  wild  and  melancholy  minor  seemed  to  run  its  un- 
dertone through  all  the  songs  and  the  music  of  the  occasion. 
But  here  there  will  be  no  dark  cloud,  no  sombre  shadow,  no 
presentiment  of  sorrow.  Every  heart  will  be  bounding,  every 
strain  will  be  perfect  joy.  Interruption  and  discord  will  be 
impossible.  Some,  indeed,  will  feel  happier  than  others,  be- 
cause some  have  hearts  larger  than  others ;  but  each  and  al] 
will  ovei-flow  with  gladness.  Blessed,  absolutely  and  emphat- 
ically blessed,  are  they  that  are  called  to  the  marriage-supper 
of  the  Lamb. 

The  Bible  alone  tells  us  such  good  news.  Shut  the  Bible, 
silence  its  testimony,  quench  in  your  memories  the  very  recol- 
lections of  it,  and  the  awful  silence  and  darkness  that 
would  be  left  behind  would  be  insufferable  to  flesh  and  blood. 
But  when  I  open  this  book,  and  let  its  sunshine  fall  upon 
earth's  desert  and  darkest  places,  I  feel  that  time's  worst 
troubles  are  momentary,  that  heaven's  best  joys  are  sure,  un- 
alloyed, eternal.  It  tells  me,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die 
in  the  Lord,  for  they  rest  from  their  labors."  It  alone  pro- 
claims, "  Blessed  are  they  that  are  called  to  the  marriage- 
supper  of  the  Lamb."  It  alone  assures  me  that  severed  rela- 
tionships, broken  domestic  circles,  gaps  in  households  shall  all 
be  filled  up  in  that  bright  sunshine  when  mothers  shall  meet  their 
children,  and  children  their  parents,  and  friends  their  friends, 
around  their  Father's  board,  and  in  this  glad  festival ;  and  they 


THE   JOYOUS   FESTIVAL.  177 

will  feel  as  they  never  anticipated  before,  "  Blessed,  truly 
blessed,  are  they  that  are  called  to  the  marriage-supper  of  the 
Lamb." 

Are  we  likely  to  be  there  ?  The  great  question  is  not, 
Who  are  now  in  heaven,  and  who  will  be  there  then  ?  but, 
Shall  we  be  there  ?  That  is  the  question  that  personally  re- 
lates to  every  one  of  us.  Am  I  sowing  what  I  shall  reap  in 
sheaves  of  joy  ?  Am  I  remembering  that  this  is  my  spring  ? 
that,  if  I  use  it  not,  I  shall  never  see  the  golden  fruits  of  the 
summer  and  the  autumn  ?  Am  I  convinced  now  that  neglect 
or  rejection  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  is  a  certain  and  sure  dis- 
qualification for  being  present  at  the  marriage-supper  of  the 
Lamb  ?  In  other  words.  Am  I  a  Christian  ?  Has  my  soul  been 
washed  in  the  most  precious  blood  ?  Am  I  clad  now  in  that 
most  glorious  raiment  ?  Is  religion  in  my  heart,  not  the  only 
thing,  for  that  we  ask  not,  but  the  supreme  thing  ?  Do  I,  in 
the  shop,  in^he  senate,  at  the  desk,  in  the  streets,  seek  first 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  his  righteousness,  and  let  other 
things  be  added  ?  Am  I  living  to  become  rich,  or  gi'eat,  to 
rise  in  rank,  and  dignity,  and  power  ?  What  a  bauble  are  you 
chasing !  What  vanity  are  you  pursuing !  Set  your  heart 
upon  realities,  not  upon  things  that  perish  in  the  using.  If 
we  live  under  the  attraction  of  living  Christianity,  we  shall  be 
happy  upon  earth ;  for  no  man  is  so  happy  as  he  who  feels  that 
the  universe  is  at  peace  with  him,  because  he  is  at  peace  with 
God ;  and  when  this  dispensation  shall  be  wound  up,  as  I  be- 
lieve it  very  soon  will,  then  ours  will  be  the  blessedness  of 
them  who  sit  down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and 
celebrate  the  marriage-supper  of  the  Lamb. 

Christians  are  twice  blessed, — here  in  hope,  and  there  in 
having.  Even  the  afflictions  of  this  present  life  give  forth 
virtue  to  the  Christian  they  touch.  They  are  private  mes- 
sages of  Jesus, — shining  angels,  holy  missionaries,  urging  up- 
ward and  onward  our  fainting  hearts. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE    BLESSED   WATCHMAN. 

*'  0  ThoUj  who  in  the  garden's  shade 
Didst  wake  thy  weary  ones  again, 
"Who  slumbered  at  that  fearful  hovir. 
Forgetful  of  thy  pain, 
Bend  o'er  us  now  as  over  them. 
And  set  our  sleep-bound  spirits  free  ; 
Nor  leave  us  slumbering  in  the  watch 
Our  souls  should  keep  with  Thee  !  " 

« 
"  Behold,  I  come  as  a  thief.    Blessed  is  he  that  watcheth,  and  keepetH  * 
his  garments,  lest  he  walk  naked,  and  they  see  his  shame." — Kev.  16  : 
15. 

The  Holy  Scripture  is  full  of  Christ ;  his  cross  is  its  preface, 
his  crown  its  consummation.  We  are  told  in  one  place  to 
lean  upon  him  who  has  come,  we  are  taught  in  another  to 
look  for  him  who  shall  come  again.  None  will  be  persuaded 
that  the  second  coming  of  Christ  is  so  clear  and  reiterated  an 
expectancy  of  the  Christian,  until  they  read  the  Scripture 
with  a  simj^le  desire  to  see  how  often  it  is  alluded  to.  Such 
readers  will  be  struck  with  the  multiplicity  of  its  references 
to  the  second  advent  of  the  Son  of  God.  In  one  passage  it  is 
said,  "  When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all 
his  holy  angels  with  him;" — in  another,  "When  the  Lord 
Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty  angels, 
in  flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God, 
and  that  obey  not  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  In 
the  Acts  we  are  told,  "  This  same  Jesus,  which  is  taken  up 


THE    BLESSED    -WATCUMAN.  179 

from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have 
seen  him  go  into  heaven."  In  the  Gospel  of  Mark  we  read, 
"  Watch,  lest  the  Son  of  man  coming  find  you  sleeping." 
Ao-ain,  we  find  that  "  the  Son  of  man  cometh  at  an  hour  when 
ye  know  not."  "  The  Son  of  man  cometh  as  a  thief  in  the 
night.  For  when  they  shall  say,  Peace  and  safety," — that  is. 
Do  not  disturb  us — cease  to  tell  us  anything  about  it — peace, 
safety,  no  danger,  —  "  then  shall  it  come  speedily  upon  them." 
We  are  told  in  Matthew,  that  "  as  the  lightning  "  —  not  as 
the  light — "  cometh  out  of  the  east,  and  shineth  even  unto 
the  west,  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be." 
We  read  in  the  epistle  of  St.  Peter  that  "  the  day  of  the 
Lord  cometh  as  a  thief  in  the  night ;  in  the  which 
the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  ele- 
ments shall  melt  with  fervent  heat."  We  read  in  Thessalo- 
nians  that  "  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a 
shout,  with  'flie  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of 
God ;  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first."  The  first  res- 
urrection shall  not  take  place  till  Christ  shall  have  come ;  for 
he  must  be  personally  revealed  before  the  dead  in  Chi'ist  shall 
rise.  That  is  the  obvious  interpretation  of  the  passage.  "The 
Lord  shall  descend  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel."  And 
what  takes  place  after  he  descends  ?  "  The  dead  in  Christ 
shall  rise  first ;  then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain." — that 
is,  we  Christians  who  are  living  in  Christ,  in  contradistinction 
to  those  who  sleep,  that  is,  the  dead  in  Christ,  — "  shall  be 
caught  up  together  with  them  in  the  clouds  to  meet  the  Lord 
in  the  air ;  "  and  God's  whole  redeemed  company,  insulated 
from  the  earth,  above  it,  beyond  the  range  of  its  flame,  shall 
wait  until  the  earth  go  through  its  last  baptism  of  fire,  and 
then  the  New  Jerusalem,  that  is,  the  company  of  God's  peo- 
ple, shall  descend  upon  the  earth  as  a  bride  adorned  and  ready 
for  the  bridegroom,  on  the  descent  of  which  the  earth  shall 
burst  into  more  than  its  pristine  blossom,  and  Paradise  again 


180  THE    BLESSED    WATCHMAN. 

be  restored.  According  to  Isaiah,  "  He  shall  shine  before 
his  ancients  gloriously."  This  must  apply  to  Christ's  per- 
sonal or  last  appearance ;  Christ's  second  and  present  act  is 
in  the  true  holy  place.  Kemember  that  the  high  priest  in 
the  ancient  economy  offered  first  a  sacrifice  upon  the  brazen 
altar  without ;  then  his  second  act  was  to  go  into  the  holy 
place,  where  no  man  was  with  him,  and  there  he  made  inter- 
cession ;  and  the  third  and  last  act  was  to  come  out  of  the 
holy  place,  and  to  give  the  people  the  benediction.  Now, 
Christ  has  accomplished  two  of  these  acts;  he  has  offered 
the  sacrifice  without,  he  is  now  in  the  true  holy  place,  that 
is,  the  heavens  alone,  making  intercession  —  no  angel  with 
him ;  and  just  as  the  Jews  waited  for  the  high  priest  to 
come  out  of  the  earthly  holy,  we  wait  for  the  true  High 
Priest  to  come  down  from  the  true  holy  place,  to  "  shine 
before  his  ancients  gloriously,"  and  bless  his  own,  and  carry 
to  his  presence  the  believing  living,  and  raise  the  holy  dead, 
and  prepare  and  purify  from  the  curse  the  residence  of  the 
people  of  God. 

To  look  for  this  is  laid  down  in  the  Scripture  as  almost  as 
stringent  a  duty  of  the  Christian  as  to  lean  upon  Christ  that 
is  come.  I  do  not  say,  what  some  have  most  rashly  and  sin- 
fully asserted,  that  unless  we  believe  that  Christ's  second 
advent  will  be  before  Christ's  millennial  reign  we  cannot  be 
saved ;  but  still  we  may  add,  they  who  think  otherwise  invert 
what  I  do  steadfastly  believe  is  the  order  of  Grod's  procedure. 
I  first  read  the  Bible  with  a  persuasion  —  I  admit,  tradi- 
tional rather  than  inferential  —  that  Christ's  personal  advent 
was  not  to  precede  the  millennium.  My  first  conviction  was, 
that  the  millennium  was  to  be  first,  and  Christ's  appear- 
ance next.  I  sat  down  to  read  the  Bible,  and  weigh  its  lan- 
guage carefully,  and  the  evidence  irresistibly  impressed  itself 
upon  my  mind  that  the  millennium  is  to  Christ  what  the  day 
is  to  the  risen  sun,  —  the  sequence  of  his  presence,  not  the 


TUE    BLESSED    WATCUMAX.  181 

pioneer  and  the  predecessor  of  it.  If  the  millemiium  were 
to  come  first,  then  I  could  state,  at  its  beginning,  exactly 
when  Christ  should  come,  because,  as  soon  as  a  thousand 
years  shall  be  finished,  according  to  this  theory,  Christ  will 
come.  But  I  know  not  the  times  and  the  seasons  ;  he  comes 
at  an  hour  men  think  not.  The  periods  of  prophetic  chro- 
nology are  all  rapidly  converging.  The  great  epochs  of  Daniel, 
the  grand  eras  of  the  apocalypse,  as  has  been  shown,  all  ter- 
minate about  the  year  186-1.  Reader,  do  not  take  up  the 
idea  that  we  assert  that  Christ  comes  in  that  year.  All  we 
allege  is,  that  the  great  prophetic  epochs  converge  just  about 
that  time;  and,  according  to  Clinton's  chronology,  in  his 
"  Fasti  Hellenici,"  the  most  able  adjustment  of  the  chro- 
nology of  the  world  that  has  issued  from  the  pen  of  any,  he 
demonstrates,  not  guesses,  that  the  six  thousand  years  of  the 
world  terminate  about  1863;  and  then,  that  1864  or  1865 
begins  the  seventh  millenary  of  the  world.  Now,  the  Jews 
looked  to  the  seventh  thousandth  year  of  the  world  as  the 
great  au^^axiauoi,  or  the  great  sabbatic  rest  of  the  people 
of  God.  Account  for  it  as  we  like,  it  is  singular  that  the 
great  epochs  of  prophecy  should  all  converge  at  that  time. 
Do  any  say  that  before  prophecy  is  fulfilled  great  things  are 
to  be  done  ?  It  is  true.  Let  any  person  notice  the  differ- 
ence between  the  way  in  which  things  are  done  now  and  the 
way  in  which  they  were  done  thirty  years  a,go,  —  let  him  note 
the  speed  with  which  events  rush  on,  compared  with  the 
sober  pace  with  which  they  moved  in  stately  procession  many 
years  ago,  —  and  he  will  see  that  events  are  now  consummated 
in  years  which  it  took  centuries  to  ripen  before.  It  is  as  if  the 
wheel  revolved  more  rapidly  on  its  axle  before  it  came  to  the 
bottom  of  the  hill.  It  seems  as  if  everybody  moved  by 
express^  and  believed  they  should  not  be  able  to  finish  their 
mission  before  that  night  comes  when  no  man  can  work.  The 
omens  and  the  auguries  of  an  approaching  crisis  are  so  thick, 
16 


182  THE   BLESSED   WATCUMAN. 

and  so  vivid,  and  so  remarkable,  that  there  is  not  a  distin- 
guished thinking  statesman  in  Europe  that  does  not  feel 
afraid  to  look  into  that  unsounded  but  opening  future  that  is 
before  Europe,  our  country,  and  mankind. 

But  when  I  state  this,  it  is  not  to  alarm.  With  the  people 
of  God  it  has  the  very  opposite  effect.  "  Lift  up  your  heads 
when  ye  see  this,  for  your  redemption  draweth  nigh."  And 
hence,  this  leads  me  to  notice  how  the  people  of  God  are 
spoken  of  as  looking  forward  to  this  event :  "  Looking  for 
that  blessed  hope,  and  the  glorious  {smcpccpeiuv)  appearance 
of  our  great  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  "  Waiting  for 
the  coming  of  the  Son  from  heaven."  Again,  "  Come,  Lord 
Jesus;" —  again,  "  We  shall  appear  with  him  in  glory;"  — 
again,  "  We  are  not  to  be  ashamed  at  his  coming."  We  can- 
not read  the  New  Testament  without  being  struck  with  the 
number  of  the  allusions  to  the  people  of  God  looking  for  it 
and  to  it.  Some  have  said  that  these  do  not  refer  to  a  per- 
sonal advent.  I  wonder  how  such  persons  will  be  able  to 
argue  with  the  well-educated  Jew.  The  Jews  say  that  the 
early  promises  are  not  to  have  a  personal  application  to 
Jesus  of  Nazareth ;  and,  if  you  say  that  these  promises  of 
Christ's  reigning  in  his  glory  are  figurative,  the  Jew  will  ask 
you,  "  How  can  you  say  that  the  one  is  literal  whilst  the 
other  is  figurative  ?  Either  both  are  literally  personal,  or 
both  are  figurative."  If  you  assert  that  the  first  is  literal, 
and  the  second  is  figurative,  the  Jew  will  contend,  and  must 
successfully  contend,  that  they  are  either  both  figurative  or 
both  literal.  And  it  does  seem  to  me  that  consistency  of 
interpretation  demands  that,  just  as  the  Christian  in  the  days 
of  Abraham,  or  of  Isaiah,  or  of  Malachi,  looked  forward  to 
a  personal  Lord  to  bear  a  cross,  so  the  Christian  is  in  these 
last  days  to  look  forward,  as  the  happiness  and  the  joy  of  his 
heart,  to  a  personal  Saviour,  personally  approaching  to  wear 


THE   BLESSED   TTATCHMAN.  183 

a  crown,  and  reign  in  Mount  Zion,  and  shine  before  his 
ancients  gloriously. 

The  words,  "  I  come  as  a  thief,"  interjected  in  the  midst 
of  the  awful  judgments  recorded  in  the  sixteenth  chapter  of 
Revelation,  is,  first  of  all,  designed  to  be  a  sound  of  comfort 
and  of  joy  to  the  people  of  God.  When  they  read  of  judg- 
ment coming  down  upon  judgment,  nation  coming  in  to  suffer- 
ing after  nation,  the  people  of  God  might  be  tempted  to  say, 
God  hath  forgotten  us,  our  God  hath  forsaken  us.  In  Europe, 
in  1793,  it  looked  as  if  God  had  left  the  world,  and  resigned 
it  to  the  control  and  sovereignty  of  every  demon  passion, 
and  of  every  depraved  and  wicked  heart.  But,  lest  the  peo- 
ple of  God,  witnessing  these  judgments  following  on  judg- 
ments, should  say,  God  hath  forgotten  us,  and  left  the  world 
to  itself,  a  voice  rings  from  the  sky  like  sweet  music  in  the 
midst  of  them,  "Do  not  think  so,  do  not  dream  so;"  on  the 
contrary,  "Behold,  I  come,"  — that  is  the  good  news  to  you, 
—  "I  come  as  a  thief," —  that  is  the  warning  to  all  to  watch 
and  wait,  lest  he  come  and  find  them  sleeping. 

And  whilst  it  is  a  voice  of  joy  to  the  people  of  God,  it  is  a 
voice  of  warning  to  others.  Are  there  any  whose  hearts  are 
in  their  estates  ?  If  the  estate  be  not  taken  from  you,  very 
soon  either  you  will  be  taken  from  the  estate,  or  the  Lord 
will  come,  and  separate  it  from  you.  Are  there  any  oppress- 
ing the  poor,  denying  the  laborer  his  wages,  and,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Scripture,  grinding  the  faces  of  the  poor  ?  "  Behold, 
I  come  as  a  thief."  "Be  patient,"  says  James  to  the 
oppressed,  "  till  the  coming  of  the  Lord ;  the  Judge  is  at  the 
door."  It  is  a  word,  therefore,  of  comfort  to  God's  people  — 
do  not  despair.  It  is  a  word  of  solemn  warning  to  the  ene- 
mies of  Christ — do  not  presume.  It  is  to  both — watch, 
and  wait,  and  learn,  and  look,  and  pray,  lest,  coming  as  a 
thief,  he  find  you  sleeping  and  unprepared. 

The  language,  therefore,  of  this  passage,  denotes  emphatic- 


184  THE   BLESSED   WATCHMAN. 

ally  the  suddenness  with  which  Christ  will  come.  The  figure, 
a  thief,  is  simply  used  as  the  symbol  of  unexpected  sudden- 
ness. "  I  will  come  as  a  thief."  There  will  be  signs,  we  are 
told,  that  God's  people  will  discern,  but  on  the  mass  of  man- 
kind the  last  day  and  the  last  manifestation  will  come  with 
the  speed  and  with  the  overwhelming  flash  of  a  majestic  but 
an  unexpected  era ;  the  world  will  just  be  going  on  as  it  has 
been.  The  exchange  will  be  crowded,  the  stocks  will  be 
quiet,  the  farmer  will  be  in  his  field,  the  merchant  in  his 
counting-house,  the  clerk  at  his  desk,  the  sentinel  at  his  post, 
the  watch  on  the  deck,  and  suddenly  an  apocalypse  will 
come  that  will  fill  the  world  with  a  blaze,  before  which  the 
red  lightning  will  look  pale.  It  will  revive  the  hearts  of 
God's  fainting  sons  and  daughters,  and  shatter  and  blast  the 
hopes  of  the  oppressors  of  the  people  of  God,  and  the  enemies 
of  Jesus  and  his  truth. 

This  is  not  my  guess,  it  is  the  solemn  assertion  of  him  who 
cannot  lie,  that  when  he  comes  he  will  come  without  warning, 
with  the  suddenness  and  the  unexpectedness  of  a  thief  in  the 
night. 

But,  as  everything  that  occurs  in  the  apocalypse  has  a 
chronological  meaning,  this  passage,  "I  will  come  as  a  thief," 
I  have  no  doubt,  specifies  that  just  at  the  period  of  the  sixth 
vial,  which  began  to  take  effect  in  1820,  and  to  exhaust  its 
force  after  1848,  there  will  be  a  much  wider  spread  of  the 
preaching  of  the  second  advent  of  Christ  than  before.  And 
is  it  not  a  fact,  that  this  great  doctrine,  overlain,  superseded, — 
perhaps  necessarily  so,  for  Martin  Luther  had  so  much  to  do 
in  resuscitating  the  truth  of  "  Christ  crucified,"  that  he  had 
scarcely  time  to  anticipate  the  glories  of  Christ  crowned, — 
during  the  last  thirty  years  has  been  studied,  and  preached, 
and  investigated,  to  an  extent,  and  with  a  success,  an  elo- 
quence, and  a  force,  with  which  it  never  was  investigated, 
stated  or  explored,  before  ?   And  therefore  the  passage  occur- 


THE    BLESSED    WATCHMAN.  185 

ring  just  after  the  sixth  vial,  and  previous  to  the  seventh, 
denotes  not  only  that  God's  people  should  take  consolation, 
but  that  the  truth  should  be  brought  home  to  their  convictions 
and  their  hearts  to  an  extent  and  with  a  success  with  which 
it  was  never  brought  home  before.  And  whilst  they  are 
awed  as  God's  chartered  judgments  sweep  the  earth,  they 
arc  cheered  by  the  blessed  hope  of  Christ's  appearance  upon 
Mount  Zion,  and  taking  to  himself  the  kingdom  and  the 
glory.  But,  when  he  comes,  what  will  happen  to  the  people 
of  God  ?  We  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he 
is.  It  is  the  desire  of  God's  people,  not  only  to  believe  on 
an  unseen  Christ,  but  to  see  him  just  as  he  is.  And  remark- 
able it  is  that  the  prediction,  or  rather  the  promise  of  God's 
Holy  Spirit,  is,  that  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  And  what  a 
blessed,  what  a  glorious  sight,  that  just  as  he  left  the  apostles 
and  ascended  in  the  cloud  —  it  is  the  definite  article  —  into 
heaven,  as  the  angel  said,  "  he  shall  come  again,"  and  we 
shall  see  him  descend  !  Christ  wears  this  very  nature  of 
man,  he  has  shared  in  my  humanity.  It  is  a  blessed  thought, 
that  there  is  not  a  grief  in  my  heart  that  has  not  its  resound- 
ing echo  in  his  —  that  there  is  not  a  sorrow  of  mine  that  he 
cannot  sympathize  with.  And  if  I  have  found  him  such  a 
Saviour  to  trust  in,  though  unseen,  how  shall  I  be  gladdened 
and  electrified  when  I  shall  see  him  no  longer  through  a  glass 
darkly,  but  face  to  face,  as  he  is !  These  very  eyes  shall  see 
him,  and  the  sight  shall  be  so  transforming,  that  the  instant 
we  see  him  we  shall  be  like  him,  transformed  from  glory  to 
glory,  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord. 

Being  thus  made  like  him,  that  prophecy  shall  be  fulfilled 
which  announces  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God.  At 
present,  Christ's  church  is  hidden ;  not  hidden  in  one  sense, 
that  there  are  no  visible  worshippers,  but  hidden  in  this 
way  —  none  can  specify  infallibly  who  are  Christ's  people 
and  who  are  not,  and  therefore  the  people  of  God  are  hidden 
16=^ 


186  THE   BLESSED   WATCHMAN. 

—  we  cannot  discriminate  them.  Put  fifteen  limidred  or 
sixteen  hundred  people  before  me,  and  I  cannot  say  who  are 
Christians  and  who  are  not.  The  sons  of  God  are  hidden, — 
"  our  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God  ;  "  but  when  we  see  him 
as  he  is,  we  shall  be  like  him ;  and  the  contrast  will  be  so 
vivid,  so  sharp,  so  unmistakable,  that  we  shall  then  know, 
even  as  we  ourselves  are  known  of  him. 

When  he  comes,  this  earth  shall  be  re-cast,  restored,  re- 
constituted, re-beautified,  and  set  in  more  than  its  first  and 
pristine  glory.  I  never  can  bring  myself  to  believe  that  this 
beautiful  earth,  its  beauties  still  outnumbering  its  blemishes, 
is  to  be  annihilated.  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  believe  that 
the  devil's  success  is  to  be  crowned  with  victory  at  the  last 
day ;  and  that  this  orb,  which  God  made  fair,  beautiful  and 
holy,  and  which  sin  has  made  as  it  is,  and  over  which  the  old 
serpent  has  left  his  trail,  so  long,  and  so  far,  and  so  wide,  he 
means  to  resign  to  Satan.  But  it  is  not  a  matter  of  conjec- 
ture. God  has  positively  stated  that  it  shall  be  restored. 
We  have  got  a  notion  as  if  there  were  something  essentially 
impure  and  hopeless  in  what  is  material.  We  have  the  old 
Gnostic  heresy,  that  stone,  tree  and  flower,  must  be,  by  their 
very  structure  and  organization,  bad  and  impure.  But  it  is 
not  so.  Only  exhaust  from  the  earth  the  poison,  sin,  —  let 
the  footfall  of  him  who  made  it  be  echoed  from  its  hills  and 
valleys  once  more,  at  dewy  dawn  and  at  eventide,  —  and 
this  earth  of  ours  will  be  instantly  transformed  into  an 
orb  the  like  of  which  is  not  amid  all  the  orbs  of  the  uni- 
'  verse  besides.  I  could  take  you,  even  in  this  world  as  it 
now  is,  to  scenes,  to  glens,  and  valleys,  to  wide-spread  pano- 
ramas in  it,  so  beautiful  and  so  magnificent,  that,  if  you  could 
only  guarantee  that  no  autumn  frost  shall  nip  those  brigat 
blossoms,  that  no  winter  winds  shall  rend  and  destroy  those 
green  branches,  that  there  shall  be  no  graves  dug  for  the 
dead,  no  sick  beds  spread  for  the  dying,  and  no  quarrels,  no 


THE   BLESSED    WATCHMAN.  187 

strifes,  no  aches,  no  other  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to,  I  could 
wish  and  decide  to  live  here  forever.  All  that  is  wanted  is 
to  remove  sin  from  the  world,  and  with  it  suffering  goes, 
autumn  goes,  winter  goes,  —  all  that  is  the  product  and  the 
progeny  of  sin  instantly  departs,  and  an  immortal  world 
becomes  the  holy  home  of  an  immortal  and  redeemed  family. 
But  anticipation  is  not  all  we  have  to  indulge  in.  A  duty 
devolves  upon  us,  —  "  Watch."  "  Watch,"  —  that  is,  let  every 
man  be  at  his  post.  It  is  not  sin  to  be  at  your  post  in  the 
world ;  it  is  sin  to  desert  it.  Whatever  your  vocation  is, 
attend  to  it ;  be  each  at  his  post,  —  the  sentinel  on  his  round, 
the  sailor  on  his  watch,  the  tradesman  at  his  counter.  Re- 
ligion is  not  something  for  the  Sunday  or  the  pulpit,  to  be 
put  off  like  a  Sunday  dress,  and  to  be  laid  aside  on  the  Mon- 
day, lest  it  should  be  rumpled  or  soiled  with  the  wear  and 
tear  of  the  week ;  it  is  to  go  with  men  into  every  employ- 
ment; it  is  to  give  tone,  direction,  shape,  coloring,  form, 
power,  to  all  that  man  is,  and  to  all  that  man  does.  And, 
hence,  the  sailor  on  the  deck,  the  soldier  on  the  field,  the 
tradesman  at  his  counter,  the  lawyer  in  his  office,  the  physi- 
cian by  the  sick  bed,  and  the  shoe-black  at  the  crossing,  may 
as  truly  honor  and  glorify  God  as  the  minister  can  by  preach- 
ing the  Gospel  in  his  pulpit.  Nay,  the  minister  is  but  the 
officer  to  give  the  signal  and  to  proclaim  the  duty,  and  the 
people  are  to  carry  the  duty  into  practice.  When  the  ser- 
mon is  finished  by  the  preacher,  it  is  about  to  be  begun  by 
the  people  ;  they  are  to  go  out  into  the  world  and  prove  that 
it  was  an  eloquent  and  conclusive  sermon,  by  showing  that  it 
makes  them  better  husbands,  better  wives,  better  children, 
better  sailors,  braver  soldiers,  tender  physicians,  honest  law- 
yers. It  is  thus  that  our  religion  is  to  be  exhibited  in  the 
world.  Thus  we  are  watching  when  we  are  each  at  his  post. 
Wherever  God  in  his  providence  has  placed  us,  there  we  need 
not  be  afraid  to  let  Christ  at  his  second  advent  find  us. 


188  THE   BLESSED    WATCHMAN.  ^ 

There  is  no  sin  in  filling  the  office  which  God  has  assigned, 
and  there  may  be  the  greatest  watchfulness  for  Christ's 
coming,  whilst  there  is  the  greatest  diligence  in  discharging 
the  duties  before  us.  We  are  all  born,  since  the  fall,  with  a 
great  tendency  to  Romanism.  Hence,  the  origin  of  the  notion 
that  the  monk  who  leaves  this  evil  world,  and  lives  in  a 
desert,  or  in  a  cell,  and  scourges  his  flesh,  and  starves  and 
stints  himself,  and  wears  rags,  and  wallows  in  filth,  —  which 
is  surely  a  worldly,  not  a  spiritual  element,  —  has  gone  out 
of  the  world,  and  that  he  only  is  holy  and  takes  a  right  view 
of  life.  But  he  looks  to  me  the  reverse  ;  he  is  the  coward 
who  leaves  the  place  where  the  Captain  of  the  faith  has  placed 
him ;  he  is  the  true  soldier  who  stand  by  his  post,  and  shows 
that  his  religion  can  serve  him  as  truly  when  he  sweeps  the 
crossing  as  when  he  sits  down  at  the  communion-table  and 
commemorates  Christ's  death.  The  monk  and  the  suicide  are 
cowards,  not  champions.  One  runs  because  afraid  of  tempta 
tion,  and  the  other  dies  because  weary  of  trials. 

But  combined  with  this  there  will  be,  of  course,  that  rest- 
ing upon  Jesus,  that  yearning  for  his  presence,  that  expect- 
ancy for  him,  that  will  ever  cheer  and  lighten.  And,  hence, 
the  overtasked  young  man,  toiling  in  the  heated  air,  expend- 
ing life  and  energy  from  seven  in  the  morning  till  ten,  and 
eleven,  and  twelve,  at  night,  may,  in  the  midst  of  it,  weary 
and  way-worn,  not  cease  to  try  to  reform  that  system,  but 
have  this  consolation :  Well,  it  must  come  to  an  end ;  the 
Lord  will  come,  and  the  glory  of  his  coming  will  make  me 
like  him,  when  I  shall  see  him  just  as  he  is.  My  harness 
will  be  taken  ofi".     My  rest  will  arrive. 

While  at  our  post,  in  our  place,  let  this  bright  hope  cheer 
us,  and  lighten  the  load  and  the  pressure  of  the  trials  we  are 
called  upon  to  endure :  it  is  only  for  a  season.  It  is  the 
eternity  of  hell  that  makes  it  so  terrible  ;  the  greatest  agony 
is  endurable,  if  it  has  an  end.     Now,  there  is  no  toil,  no 


TKE    BLESSED    AYATCHMAN.  189 

drudgery,  no  exhaustion,  we  arc  called  upon  to  endure  in 
this  world,  to  which  there  is  not  an  end ;  and  the  longer 
that  the  world  lasts,  the  nearer  that  end  is.  Let  us,  then, 
look  with  joyful  expectancy,  and  brightening  hope,  for  the 
glorious  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  great  God  and 
Saviour. 

But  be  sure,  dear  reader,  that  you  are,  in  the  sight  of  God, 
and  according  to  the  test  and  the  standard  and  the  measure 
of  the  sanctuary,  one  of  the  people  of  God.  When  Christ 
comes,  it  will  be  too  late  to  repent ;  the  harvest  is  come,  the 
summer  is  ended,  and,  if  not  saved  then,  you  cannot  be  saved 
at  all.  When  Christ  comes,  it  will  be  too  late  to  believe ; 
there  is  no  faith  possible  —  all  faith  ceases,  because  the 
object  of  it  is  seen.  Faith  is  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen  ; 
but  when  the  things  are  seen,  then  faith,  like  the  husk  or 
calyx  of  the  ripening  fruit,  drops  oflf  and  disappears. 

Let  me  ask,  Are  you  a  Christian  now  ?  If  the  farmer 
neglects  the  spring,  there  will  be  no  autumn.  If  the  invalid 
neglects  his  symptoms  till  disease  becomes  inveterate,  there 
will  be  no  cure.  If  the  voyager  misses  the  tide,  he  will  lose 
his  passage  ;  and  if  you  do  not  now  seize  the  day  of  salva- 
tion, close  with  the  offers  of  the  Gospel,  commit  yourselves  to 
the  keeping,  the  cleansing  blood,  and  the  justifying  right- 
eousness, of  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  Saviour,  there  will  be  no 
doing  it  then.  Your  lamp  will  be  empty,  and  there  will  be 
no  oil  to  be  purchased ;  the  bridegroom  will  have  come,  the 
foolish  virgins  will  find  their  lamps  gone  out,  and  the  black- 
ness of  darkness  their  only  portion  for  ever  and  ever.  If, 
then,  we  know  not  when  Christ  comes,  but  do  know  that  he 
will  come,  and  if  the  signs  and  tokens  of  the  age,  accumulat- 
ing on  all  sides,  and  becoming  more  vivid,  distinct  and 
defined,  with  each  day's  progress,  tell  us  that  he  is  at  the 
door,  that  the  Judge  is  at  hand,  let  us  sec  that  we  have 
washed  our  robes  and  made  them  white  in  his  blood,  that  we 


190  THE   BLESSED   WATCHMAN. 

are  his  people,  that  we  bear  his  signature,  that  we  stand  up 
for  his  cause,  and  by  living  faith,  like  the  vine-branches,  are 
united  to  him,  and  then  we  shall  not  be  ashamed  at  his 
coming.  Thus  will  be  found  in  his  place,  ever  ready,  the 
Blessed  Watchman. 


CHAPTEH  XIV 

THE  HOLY  AND  HAPrY  DEAD. 

«  There  is  no  death  :  what  seems  so  is  transition 
This  life  of  mortal  breath 
Is  like  a  suburb  of  the  life  Elysian, 
Whose  portal  we  call  Death. 

«  She  is  not  dead,  —  the  child  of  our  affection,  — 
But  gone  into  that  school 
Where  she  no  longer  needs  our  poor  protection. 
But  Christ  himself  doth  rule. 

*'  In  that  great  cloister's  stillness  and  seclusion. 
By  guardian  angels  led. 
Safe  from  temptation,  safe  from  sin's  pollution. 
She  lives,  whom  we  call  dead." 

"  And  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven  saying  unto  me.  Write,  Blessed 
are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth  :  Yea,  saith  tho 
Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labors  ;  and  their  works  do  follow 
them."  — Rev.  14  :  13. 

A  VOICE  from  heaven  commanded  Jolin  to  write  these 
blessed  words.  Their  record  is  not  the  conjecture  of  man, 
but  the  inspiration  of  God.  John  did  not  guess  it,  nor  did 
he  venture  from  his  own  reasoning  to  assert  it.  A  voice 
from  heaven,  of  which  he  became  the  vehicle,  the  organ  and 
the  utterer,  cried,  "  Write,  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in 
the  Lord."  The  voice  said,  Write.  That  word  expresses 
one  of  the  most  valuable  facts  recorded  in  the  Bible.  Scrip- 
ture means  that  which  is  written.     The  fact  that  the  Bible  is 


192  THE  HOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAD. 

intrusted  to  a  permanent  and  fixed  record  is  most  important 
when  we  consider  what  have  been  the  distortions,  the  devia- 
tions, and  the  errors,  of  oral  tradition  and  transmission.  Write 
is  the  secret  of  the  incorruptibility  of  the  text,  the  evidence 
that  it  is  a  fixture,  and  that,  however  man's  comments  may 
vary, — and  they  vary  as  do  the  clouds  in  the  sky,  —  the  great 
truths  of  Scripture  remain  beyond  and  above  them,  fixed  and 
bright  as  the  stars  in  the  firmament. 

John  is  here  called  upon  to  write  respecting  the  nature 
and  the  subjects  and  the  issues  of  death.  Death  is  so  solemn 
and  momentous  a  fact,  that  we  should  expect  in  the  book  that 
prescribes  how  to  live  some  prescription  how  to  die ;  and  that 
from  the  same  oracle  that  tells  us  what  life  is,  and  how  its 
burden  may  be  borne,  we  should  hear  what  death  is,  and  to 
what  destiny  it  leads.  This  blessed  book  tells  us  how  to 
live,  helps  us  to  fear  not  to  die.  It  alone  records,  not  as  a 
probable  conjecture,  but  as  an  absolute  fact,  that  ever  has 
been,  ever  will  be,  and  from  the  nature  of  things  must  be 
true,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord,  for  they 
rest  from  their  labors." 

This  text  is  a  lamp  in  the  dark  and  gloomy  sepulchre,  a 
consolation  just  where  consolation  is  most  deeply  needed ;  an 
inscription  upon  the  tombstone  that  covers  the  ashes  of  the 
sainted  dead,  that  makes  death  look  life-like,  and  the  grave 
seem  but  the  vestibule  or  the  approach  to  a  house  not  made 
with  hands,  eternal  in  the  skies.  It  is  such  a  text  as  this 
that  indicates  the  Christian  religion,  a  life  to  live  by,  and  a 
hope  to  die  with.  It  begins  at  our  birth,  it  surrounds  our 
cradle,  it  comes  to  the  sick  bed,  it  forsakes  us  not  when  we 
enter  the  house  appointed  for  all  living.  It  gives  life  its 
consecration,  its  brightest  path  and  its  blessed  issue ;  and  it 
takes  from  death  its  terrors,  its  awe  and  uncertainty.  I  know 
no  other  system  that  can  do  this.  Infidelity  serves  at  least 
to  live  with,  though  it  serves  very  badly ;  but  it  fails  at  a 


THE  KOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAD.  193 

dying  hour.  Christianity  makes  life  holy,  and  death  happy. 
To  live  in  the  Lord  is  the  highest  life,  to  die  in  the  Lord  is 
the  noblest  death  :  it  is  not  the  Christian  that  dies,  but  death 
itself  that  dies.     His  is  a  beautiful  transition,  and  no  more. 

Here,  too,  lies  the  difference  between  the  Christian  and 
the  mere  man  of  the  world, — I  mean  the  man  who  is  not  truly 
a  child  of  God.  A  worldly  man,  who  lives  by  bread  alone, 
believes  that  all  blessedness  is  in  living,  and  that  that  blessed- 
ness grows  in  intensity  and  brightness  just  in  the  ratio  in 
which  he  excludes  the  light,  the  anticipations,  or  the  fore- 
bodings, of  an  eternity  to  come.  He  says.  Blessed  are  the 
rich.  Blessed  are  the  great.  Blessed  are  the  learned ;  but  he 
cannot  conceive  that  there  is  any  blessing  upon  dying,  or  that 
death  has  any  coronal  of  beauty  or  of  glory.  He  shrinks 
from  death  as  from  a  dire  necessity.  If  he  cannot  escape 
the  fact  of  it,  he  ever  tries  and  toils  to  escape  the  thought  of 
it,  because  to  him  life  has  nothing  but  outer  joys,  and  death, 
which  quenches  these,  is  therefore  nothing  but  unmingled 
calamity ;  if  he  see  life  no  more,  he  cannot  understand  that 
strange  parable,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead."  But  a  Christian, 
who  has  learned  what  Christ  is,  sees  death  not  as  a  catas- 
trophe in  nature's  hand,  but  an  emancipation  from  the  hand 
that  was  nailed  to  the  cross.  To  him  death  has  lost  his  sting, 
and  to  his  eye  the  grave  is  encircled  and  illuminateii  by  an 
aureole  of  heavenly  light.  He  fulfils  life's  duties  as  becomes 
one  of  God's  sons,  and  he  enters  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death  fearing  no  evil,  because  his  rod  and  his  staff  will  com- 
fort him. 

God's  best  benedictions  light  upon  persons.  If  I  open  the 
Rituals,  and  Missals,  and  Pontificals,  of  the  Popedom,  I  read 
of  blessings  upon  robes,  upon  candles,  upon  animals,  unctions, 
sprinklings,  all  the  ceremonial  of  a  great  and  mischievous 
apostasy ;  but  if  I  open  the  Bible,  the  blessings  fall,  not  in 
drops,  but  in  showers,  —  not  on  candles,  but  on  Christians. 
17 


194  THE  HOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAD. 

"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,"  " Blessed  are  the  meek," 
"  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteous- 
ness," "  Blessed  are  they  which  are  persecuted  for  righteous- 
ousness'  sake."  God's  grand  benedictions  light  upon  the 
hearts  of  his  people ;  and  let  the  heart  be  blessed,  and  the 
home,  and  the  grave,  and  the  sick  bed,  and  the  wide  world, 
will  reflect  and  repeat  the  blessing.  All  things  grow  bright 
around,  because  man,  the  living  being,  has  been  blessed  of 
God  within.  Not  only  blessed  in  life,  but  blessed  in  death 
also,  is  a  Christian.  Matthew  5  is  the  catalogue  of  blessings 
on  the  living,  the  last  two  chapters  of  the  Eev elation  are  the 
catalogue  of  benedictions  upon  the  dead*.  It  is  the  blessed 
life  that  leads  to  the  blessed  death ;  it  is  they  on  whose  hearts 
benedictions  have  fallen  in  life  in  whose  hearts  benedictions 
rest  in  dying.  They  go  from  hearing  on  earth  into  heaven, 
only  to  hear,  on  the  steps  of  glory,  the  benediction  of  the 
Lord,  "  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father  "  ("  Blessed  are  the 
dead  that  die  in  the  Lord  "),  "inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world." 

But,  whilst  there  is  a  blessing  thus  upon  all  the  sainted 
dead  that  die  in  the  Lord,  there  seems  to  light  a  special  one 
on  this  class.  The  close  of  the  fourteenth  chapter  indicates 
the  chronological  position  of  this  blessing ;  it  is  just  after 
recording  this  benediction  that  he  says,  "  And  I  looked,  and 
behold  a  white  cloud,  and  upon  the  cloud  one  sat  like  unto 
the  Son  of  man,  having  on  his  head  a  golden  crown,  and  in 
his  hand  a  sharp  sickle.  And  another  angel  came  out  of 
the  temple,  crying  with  a  loud  voice  to  him  that  sat  on 
the  cloud.  Thrust  in  thy  sickle,  and  reap :  for  the  time  is 
come  for  thee  to  reap;  for  the  harvest  of  the  earth  is  ripe." 
It  thus  indicates  that  the  epoch  at  which  this  special  blessing 
was  pronounced  is  just  on  the  eve  of  Christ's  descending  from 
the  clouds,  taking  vengeance  upon  them  that  know  him  not, 
and  ushering  in  the  fulfilment  of  ten  thousand  benedictions 


THE  nOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAD.  195 

contained  in  prophecy  upon  all  that  live  and  die  in  the  Lord. 
If  thej  are  blessed  that  died  in  the  Lord  in  the  days  of  Abra- 
ham, of  Elijah,  or  Paul,  or  John, — if  blessed  that  died  in 
the  days  of  Luther,  if  blessed  that  die  in  the  Lord  now,  — 
emphatically  blessed,  especially  blessed  are  they  that  die  in 
the  Lord  "  henceforth;"  for  their  dead  dust  shall  have  so 
short  a  time  to  ^eep  in  the  grave  before  it  is  stirred  by  the 
echoes  of  the  resurrection  trump,  and  the  severed  soul  will 
have  so  short  a  time  to  remain  in  its  widowhood,  till  it  repos- 
sess, prepared  and  rebuilt,  the  tenement  of  clay,  that  they 
are  especially  blessed,  for  their  separation  of  soul  and  body 
will  be  no  sooner  made,  than  their  reiinion,  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  latter,  will  almost  instantly  take  place,  and,  there- 
fore, "  Blessed "  from  henceforth,  emphatically,  specially, 
"  are  they  that  die  in  the  Lord." 

It  is  not,  Blessed  are  all  the  dead,  of  all  ages;  but,  if  there 
are  any  that  were  not  in  this  benediction,  it  is  not  because 
the  benediction  was  too  narrow,  but  because  they  would  not 
hail  it,  and  have  it,  by  embracing  the  way  to  it.  It  is, 
"  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lm'd."  Here  is  the 
grand  and  vital  distinction.  They  may  die  on  sick  beds,  or 
on  the  battle-field ;  they  may  die  on  the  bosom  of  the  desert 
sea,  or  on  the  sands  of  the  lonely  and  arid  wilderness ;  they 
may  die  in  plague,  pestilence  and  famine,  or  as  they  died  on 
whom  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell,  or  as  they  who  sank  before 
the  sword  of  the  cruel  and  the  murderous  Herod ;  they  may 
die  friendless,  or  amid  the  sympathies  of  friends ;  they  may 
die  at  home,  or  somewhere  in  a  strange  land,  —  it  matters  not, 
if  they  die  in  the  Lord.  Blessed  are  such  dead,  wherever 
they  die,  however  they  die,  and  whatever  be  the  exit  by 
which  the  soul  passes  from  this  mortality  into  that  immor- 
tality and  glory. 

We  murft  not  judge  of  the  character  of  the  dead  by  the 
circumstances  of  their  death.     We  must  judge  of  the  dead, 


196  THE  HOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAD. 

if  we  judge  at  all,  by  the  nature  and  distinguishing  peculiarity 
of  their  life.  We  are  all  prone  to  judge  merely  from  provi- 
dential occurrences,  but  in  most  instances  we  fail  to  form  or 
utter  a  righteous  verdict.  "  Think  ye  that  those  eighteen 
upon  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell,  and  slew  them,  were 
sinners  above  all  men  that  dwelt  in  Jerusalem  ?  I  tell  you, 
nay;  but,  except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish." 
There  are  a  thousand  exits  for  the  soul,  but  it  is  not  the 
nature  of  the  exit  that  determines  the  character  of  the  inmate. 
To  be  in  Christ  is  safety,  to  be  like  Christ  is  character ; 
God's  providence  arranges  the  mode  of  death,  God's  grace 
alone  stamps  the  character  on  which  in  dying  there  is 
inscribed,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord."  Be 
sure  that  you  live  in  Christ,  and  you  need  have  no  fear  and 
no  forethought  about  dying  at  all.  We  always  say  it  is  a 
solemn  thing  to  die,  —  unquestionably  it  is  ;  but  it  is  a  much 
more  solemn,  because  a  much  more  responsible  thing,  to  live ; 
and  if  we  could  only  take  care  of  living  as  we  should,  we 
need  not  be  afraid  that  we  shall  die  as  we  ought. 

What  is  meant  by  being  in  the  Lord  ?  The  phrase  is 
peculiar,  the  meaning  is  precious :  it  means  moral,  personal 
union  and  communion  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  phrase, 
grammatically,  is  harsh ;  morally  and  spiritually,  precious 
beyond  expression.  It  does  not  mean  that  they  obey  Christ,  or 
simply  follow  his  example,  or  simply  believe  that  he  was  a 
good  man,  or  a  moral  man,  or  a  great  man,  or  a  heavenly  mes- 
senger; but  that  they  are  one  with  him  as  truly,  in  moral  relation- 
ship, as  the  branch  is  one  with  the  stem  from  which  it  springs, 
as  the  limb  is  one  with  the  body  to  which  it  belongs.  The  blood 
that  circulates  through  the  arm  received  its  tidal  current  first 
through  the  heart ;  the  sap  that  is  in  the  stem,  that  bursts 
into  blossom  in  spring,  and  bears  fruit  in  autumn,  has  trav- 
elled from  the  root  and  through  the  stem,  upwards  to  the 
various  branches,  all  identified  as  one ;  and  the  distinctive 


THE  HOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAD.  197 

life  of  a  Christian,  —  not  his  intellectual,  nor  his  physical,  nor 
his  moral,  but  his  spiritual  life,  grows  as  truly  from  Christ, 
his  head,  and  his  heart,  and  his  all,  as  the  sap  in  the  branch 
comes  from  the  stem,  the  blood  in  the  veins  from  the  arteries 
and  the  heart;  and  thus  the  Christian  is  in  Christ,  vitally, 
inseparably.  And  thus  the  life  that  we  live  is  the  life  of 
the  Son  of  God;  so  that  Paul  could  say,  "  I  live,  yet  not  I, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  To  be  in  Christ  is  to  be  one  with 
him,  and  to  stand  before  God  in  this  respect  just  as  Christ 
stands,  —  righteous  as  he  is  righteous,  because  his  righteous- 
ness is  my  righteousness,  —  forgiven,  because  Christ  died; 
all  that  he  paid  he  paid  for  me,  all  that  he  bore  he  bore  for 
me,  all  that  he  did  he  did  for  me ;  all  his  are  mine,  and  mine 
are  his,  and  the  whole  body  of  believers  is  accepted,  and  jus- 
tified, and  acquitted,  because  Christ  the  Head,  their  fore- 
runner, is  accepted  for  them,  and  in  their  stead,  in  the  presence 
of  glory.  Thus  the  believer  is  in  Christ,  and,  united  to  him, 
derives  life  from  him.  The  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand 
have  the  Father's  name  written  on  their  foreheads,  they  sing 
the  new  song,  they  are  "  they  which  follow  the  Lamb  whither- 
soever he  goeth.  These  were  redeemed  from  among  men, 
being  the  first-fruits  unto  God  and  to  the  Lamb.  And  in 
their  mouth  was  found  no  guile ;  for  they  are  without  fault 
before  the  throne  of  God."  We  thus  see  their  inner  state  to 
be  in  Christ,  and  their  outer  fruits  holy,  fragrant  and  fair. 

If  these  words,  chronologically  considered,  are  uttered  on 
the  last  and  consuming  judgments  of  apostate  Christendom, 
then  it  is  an  encouragement  to  those  who  are  likely  to  suifer 
not  to  be  afraid  to  take  up  their  cross  for  Christ's  sake ;  it  is 
telling  Christians,  You  will  have  a  short  but  a  sanguinary 
struggle.  Martyrs  will  be  needed,  and  here  is  martyr-encour- 
agement ready  for  you.  Death  awaits  you,  but  remember  it 
is  a  blessed  death.  Sufiering  may  be  before  you,  but  "  Fear 
not,  for  I  am  with  you."  Dying  for  the  Lord  may  be  dared 
17# 


198  THE  HOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAB. 

when  living  in  him  has  been  previously  realized.  Christians 
can  look  to  death  without  terror,  and  anticipate  the  grave 
without  dismay,  because  they  hear  sounding  in  its  chambers 
the  echoes  of  a  celestial  voice,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead ;  "  and 
they  see  writ  upon  its  forehead,  "  They  rest  from  their  labors,- 
and  their  works  do  follow  them." 

In  order  to  make  the  benediction  yet  more  emphatic,  we 
read  not  only,  "Write,"  but,  "Yea,  saith  the  Spirit;"  that 
is,  this  record  is  not  only  a  transcript  from  the  book  of  God, 
but  it  has  also  the  signature  and  the  seal  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
attached  to  it.  A  voice  from  heaven  says,  "  Write,"  and  then 
John  writes  it  —  the  Holy  Spirit  comes  down  and  seals  it, 
not  to  make  it  more  sure,  but  to  make  us,  the  readers  of  it, 
more  satisfied,  "  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit." 

God's  word  is  not  a  dumb,  but  an  eloquent  oracle.  We 
hear  members  of  the  Church  of  Rome  say,  "  It  is  better  to 
have  a  living,  speaking  judge,  than  to  have  a  dead,  dumb 
book."  God's  book  is  not  a  dead,  dumb  letter;  we  read, 
"  What  say  the  Scriptures  ?  "  and,  again,  "  Yea,  saith  the 
Spirit."  In  other  words,  it  is  a  speaking  book  ;  it  has  all  the 
fixture  of  a  writing,  and  it  has  all  the  freshness  of  a  living 
and  personal  utterance.  The  Bible  is  not  a  dead  transcript, 
without  power,  but  a  living  utterance,  — "  What  say  the 
Scriptures  ?  "  or,  "  What  the  Spirit  sxieal^s  to  the  churches." 
"  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  they  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their 
works  do  follow  them." 

Such  a  sentiment  as  this  is  worthy  of  the  Spirit  thus  to 
repeat.  There  will  be  wanted  for  the  awful  crisis  rare  and 
special  comfort ;  it  is  for  martyrs  suffering  a  cruel  death, 
for  all  Christians  shrinking  from  ordinary  death.  John  hears 
a  voice  from  heaven,  saying,  "  Write  it,"  and  he  does  so ;  and 
the  Spirit  comes,  not  only  as  a  teacher,  but  as  a  comforter, 
and  adds,  while  applying  this  leaf  from  the  tree  of  life  to 
the  human  heart,  "  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,"  —  it  is  true,  they 


THE  HOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAD. 


l39 


do  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their  works  do  follow  them. 
The  Holy  Spirit,  according  to  our  blessed  Lord's  testimony, 
takes  of  the  things  of  Christ,  and  shows  them  to  us.  How 
beautiful  is  this  office  !  Not  only  does  he  take  the  words  of 
Christ  and  make  us  hear  them,  but  he  takes  of  the  things  of 
Christ,  and  so  shows  to  us  these  things  that  he  makes  felt  and 
real  what  is  written,  and  enjoyed  in  the  soul  what  is  inspired 
in  the  outer  book,  and  engraves  upon  the  living  tables  of  the 
heart  the  comforts,  that  is,  the  leaves  which  he  has  gathered 
from  the  tree  of  life,  which  are  for  the  healing  of  the  sor- 
rows and  sufferings  of  the  nations.  In  the  Gospel  of  John, 
we  read  that  the  Spirit  comes  first  as  a  teacher.  "  I  will  send 
you  another  comforter,  that  he  may  abide  with  you  forever ; 
even  the  spirit  of  truth."  A  falsehood  is  an  opiate,  but  the 
truth  is  an  inexhaustible  comfort.  The  Church  of  Kome  has 
opiates  by  the  dozen ;  the  church  of  Christ  has  the  comforter, 
who  is  all-sufficient ;  and  it  is  the  Spirit,  as  the  comforter, 
that  saith,  "  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  they  rest  from  their  labors, 
and  their  works  do  follow  them." 

Let  us  look  still  further  at  what  the  Spirit  adds,  —  "  They 
rest  from  their  labors."  Then  there  is  no  torture,  or  pain,  or 
suffering,  on  any  pretence  whatever,  after  death.  The  future 
of  a  Christian  is  rest.  There  are  no  sins  left  that  need  to  be 
expiated,  for  the  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin ;  there 
are  no  expiations  needed  to  be  made,  for  Jesus  Christ  died 
once  for  all.  If  so,  what  can  be  the  use,  where  can  be  the 
necessity,  but,  above  all,  where  is  the  recorded  evidence,  of 
a  state  of  expiatory  suffering,  sorrow  or  torture,  after  death  ? 
There  is  none.  "  They  rest  from  their  labors  "  rings  the 
death-knell  of  the  anile  dogma  of  purgatorial  torment. 
Christians  were  laborers  when  living ;  they  only  cease  from 
being  so  when  they  die.  And  does  not  the  whole  Bible  tell 
us  that  we  are  soldiers,  pilgrims,  strangers,  —  fears  within, 
fightings  without,  —  "  run  the  race  set  before  you,  looking 


200  THE  HOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAD. 

unto  Jesus,"  —  "  fight  the  good  fight," —  "  labor  not  for  the 
meat  that  perisheth  "  ?  We  have  to  promote  the  truth,  we 
have  to  defend  it,  we  have  to  practise  it.  This  is  the  field 
of  battle,  not  the  pitched  tent  or  the  permanent  temple.  This 
is  the  ocean's  bosom  on  which  we  are  tossed,  not  the  sheltered  ■ 
haven.  This  is  the  era  of  trouble,  of  toil  and  of  tears ;  it  is 
after  we  have  lived  in  Christ  that  we  die  in  Christ,  and  so 
rest  from  our  labors,  and  our  works  do  follow  us.  In  other 
words,  as  soon  as  absent  from  the  body,  we  are  present  with 
the  Lord.  Joyous  hope  !  when  a  Christian  dies,  he  does  not 
descend,  but  ascend  to  a  higher  platform,  mingle  amid  brighter 
light,  drink  deeper  of  inexhaustible  joy  and  pleasures  that 
are  at  God's  right  hand  forevermore. 

It  is  added,  in  the  next  place,  "  Their  works  do  follow 
them."  Their  woiks  follow,  not  precede  them ;  if  it  had  been 
said  their  works  precede  them,  it  would  have  looked  as  if 
their  works  had  gone  into  the  presence  of  God  as  claimants, 
or  merits,  or  rights ;  but  in  the  record  that  their  works  do 
follow  them,  there  is  evidence  that  their  persons  have  been 
accepted,  and  their  works  in  consequence  of  their  having 
that  previous  acceptance.  It  is  not  that  persons  are  accepted 
because  of  works  that  precede  them,  but  the  works  are  wel- 
come as  evidence,  because  the  persons  have  already  preceded 
and  entered  into  glory.  And  hence  our  blessed  Lord's  words 
are  exactly  the  explanation  of  this  :  "  Come,  ye  blessed  of 
my  Father,  inherit  "  —  a  son  inherits  —  "  the  kingdom  pre- 
pared for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world."  There  is 
the  blessedness.  Then  what  does  he  add  ?  —  "I  was  hungry, 
and  ye  fed  me ;  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  visited  me ;  "  here 
are  the  works  that  do  follow  them.  But  mark  the  order ; 
there  is  the  acceptance  of  the  person  blessed  in  Christ,  and 
because  in  Christ ;  then,  the  admission  of  the  words,  like  the 
train  of  splendor  that  follows  the  setting  sun, —  like  the  fruits 


THE  nOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAD.  201 

that  are  produced  as  the  evidence  of  the  goodness  of  the 
tree.  —  •'  their  works  do  follow  them." 

It  is  their  works,  —  not  their  words,  nor  their  professions, 
their  intentions,  their  designs,  their  half-conceived,  half-ac- 
complished purposes,  —  "  their  ivorJis  do  follow  them."  Being 
dead.  Christians  jet  speak.  Every  man  leaves  behind  him 
an  influence  that  works  after  him  for  good  or  for  evil.  We 
have  two  immortalities, — we  carry  to  heaven  one  immortality, 
we  leave  behind  us  upon  earth  a  second  immortality ;  and, 
being  dead, — that  is,  removed  from  this  earth, — we  yet  leave 
behind  us  a  character,  lessons,  teachings,  works,  facts,  doings, 
monuments,  that  speak  for  God  or  that  speak  against  him, 
make  men  holier,  wiser  and  better,  or  corrupt  them  and  make 
them  the  reverse.     Our  works,  it  is  said,  do  follow  us. 

I  notice,  in  the  last  place,  that  nothing  but  our  works  fol- 
low us.  His  coronet  does  not  follow  a  noble,  nor  her  diadem 
a  queen,  nor  his  wealth  a  rich  man,  nor  his  learning  a  great 
scholar.  These  were  elements  of  responsibility,  and  their 
responsibility  remains,  but  they  do  not  follow  them.  The 
purple,  the  ermine  and  the  lawn,  must  all  be  laid  down  at 
the  grave.  In  fact,  all  that  the  greatest  and  the  noblest 
have  is  merely  a  life-rent,  or  life-possession.  These  things, 
therefore,  we  must  lay  down  and  leave  behind  us,  but  the 
good  that  we  do  is  not  buried  with  our  bones.  And,  hence, 
the  poorest  Christian  may  leave  after  him  an  influence  far 
more  powerful,  influential  and  precious,  than  the  most  exalted 
inheritor  of  the  noblest  title,  who  lived  only  for  himself,  and 
not  for  the  good  and  the  benefit  of  the  rest  of  mankind.  We 
must  enter  into  the  presence  of  God  without  any  of  the  trap- 
pings, the  pomp,  the  circumstance  or  parade,  of  life,  —  only 
with  our  souls  in  Christ  or  out  of  him ;  and  our  works,  like 
influences  we  have  left  behind,  following  us,  attesting  the 
beneficence  of  our  course,  or  pronouncing  anathemas  and 
curses  for  the  evil  we  have  done  to  others. 


202  THE  HOLY  AND  HAPPY  DEAD. 

Are  we  among  the  blessed  living  ?  Are  the  benedictions 
in  St.  Matthew's  Gospel  ours  ?  If  these  be  ours  in  life,  the 
Apocalyptic  benedictions  will  be  ours  in  death  :  "  Blessed  are 
the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord."  So  may  we  be  blessed,  so 
may  we  die,  our  works  following  us,  and  ourselves  peacefully 
and  evermore  resting  from  our  labors  ! 

"  Asleep  in  Jesus  !  peaceful  rest. 
Whose  waking  is  supremely  blest !  '* 


CHAPTEE    XV. 

BREAD   FOR   THE   BLESSED    LIFE. 

"  Who  testified  this  solemn  truth, 
Through  frenzy  desolated, 
Nor  man  nor  nature  satisfy 
Whom  only  God  created." 

"  It  is  written,  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word 
that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  —  Matthew  i  :  4. 

The  beasts  of  the  field,  because  they  have  no  consciousness 
of  a  higher  want,  may  be  said  to  live  by  bread  alone.  They 
feel  their  necessities  hour  by  hour,  and  are  satisfied  with  the 
sujDply  of  those  necessities  as  they  arise.  The  mere  natural 
man  tries  to  live  continuously  by  bread  alone,  that  is,  by  such 
means  and  nutriment  as  this  world  can  give ;  but,  as  we  shall 
see,  he  fails  to  satisfy  a  hunger  which  no  earthly  bread  can 
fill,  or  to  remove  that  deep  and  inner  thirst,  which  no  water 
from  the  cisterns  of  this  world  has  ever  been  able  to  satiate. 
In  other  words,  man  has  a  higher  life  than  the  brutes  of  the 
field,  —  a  life  higher  than  that  which  is  visible  to  the  eye,  audi- 
ble to  human  ear,  or  apparent  even  to  the  senses  of  himself. 
He  has  within  him  a  life  that  terminates  with  the  grave,  and 
a  life  that  culminates  either  in  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of 
glory,  or  that  plunges  into  that  terrible  aphelion,  where  God 
hath  forgotten  forever  to  be  gracious.  Man's  lower  life  is 
satisfied  with  the  bread  that  perisheth,  but  this  higher  life 


204  BREAD    FOR    THE    BLESSED    LIFE. 

needs  a  higher  nutriment ;  and  it  is  of  this  higher  life  that  our 
Redeemer  speaks,  when  he  says,  or  rather  when  he  quotes 
from  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  "Man  doth  not  live"  —  he 
may  exist,  but  he  does  not  live  —  "  by  bread  alone  ;  "  that  is, 
the  growth  of  this  world's  seed,  or  the  product  of  this  world's 
stores. 

And  what  is  the  Bible  but  a  provision  for  the  supply  of 
this  inner  hunger,  which  bread  doth  not  satisfy,  and  for  the 
refreshment  of  this  inner  soul-thirst,  which  this  world  never 
can  meet  ?  The  Bible  is  the  storehouse  of  such  bread,  the 
preacher  is  the  proclaimer  of  it,  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  seal 
and  a  sign  of  it.  Our  own  inmost  and  deepest  consciousness 
tells  us  that  we  need  something  better  than  human  eye  has 
seen,  or  human  ear  heard,  or  man's  heart,  left  to  itself,  con- 
ceived, to  give  us  that  rest  in  which  we  can  say,  "  It  is 
enough,  I  am  satisfied,  and  thus  I  could  live  forever." 

And,  as  this  bread  is  supplied  for  this  inner  and  this  higher 
life,  so  man  is  welcome  to  partake  of  it.  The  bread  that 
satisfies  the  body  needs  to  be  toiled  and  paid  for ;  but  the 
living  bread  that  cometh  down  from  heaven,  like  all  God's 
greatest  and  choicest  boons,  is  to  be  had  without  money  and 
without  price.  Singular  it  is  that  rare  things  and  precious 
things,  as  the  world  calls  them,  are  very  costly  things ;  but 
the  most  precious  things  of  all,  though  the  world  from  their 
very  abundance  least  appreciates  them,  are  to  be  had  without 
money  and  without  price.  Even  in  this  world,  the  pure  spring 
water  is  more  sweet  and  precious  than  all  the  wines  of  the 
Rhine,  Portugal  or  France ;  the  air  that  we  breathe  is  far 
more  delightful  than  all  the  perfumes  of  Arabia  ;  and  a  bright 
day,  a  splendid  landscape,  or  panorama  of  landscapes,  is  a 
sight  as  glorious  as  princes  can  see ;  and  a  starry  sky  on  a 
winter  night  is  so  splendid  an  apocalypse  of  God,  that,  if  we 
were  to  see  it  only  once  in  our  life,  we  should  never  forget  it. 
The  best  and  most  precious  things  are  the  cheapest ;  so  the 


BREAD  FOR  THE  BLESSED  LU'E.  205 

bread  that  feeds  the  soul,  and  the  living  water  that  sat- 
isfies its  thirst,  are  to  be  had  without  money  and  without 
price;  and  the  remonstrance  of  him  who  bids  you  welcome  is, 
"  Why  spend  your  money  for  that  which  is  not  bread,  and 
your  labor  for  that  which  doth  not  satisfy  ?  for  man  liveth 
not  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth"  — 
something  higher  —  "  out  of  the  mouth  of  Grod." 

Let  us  look  at  the  negative  side  of  the  statement,  "  Man 
doth  not  live  by  bread  alone ;  "  that  is,  there  is  nothing  in 
this  world's  provision  that  can  satisfy  that  higher  want  which 
is  in  all,  and  the  yearnings,  the  aspirations,  and  the  unsatisfied 
claims  and  pangs,  of  which  are  felt  more  or  less  at  intervals 
by  every  man,  even  in  his  greatest  aberration  from  God,  and 
forgetfulness  of  his  will  and  law.  Experience  is  the  first  wit- 
ness. It  will  testify  that  man  doth  not  live  by  bread  alone. 
What  has  been  every  man's  attempt,  more  or  less,  through 
life,  but  to  live  by  bread  alone,  —  that  is,  to  secure  by  his  own 
efi'orts  an  enjoyment  that  will  satisfy  ?  The  tradesman  in 
his  business,  the  soldier  on  the  field,  the  statesman  in  the 
cabinet,  the  noble  in  his  hall,  the  physician  in  his  practice, 
the  judge  upon  the  bench,  all  have  been  trying  an  experiment 
repeated  every  day,  and  every  day  a  failure,  to  live,  that  is, 
to  be  satisfied,  with  bread  alone,  or  what  this  world  can  sup- 
ply. But  what  have  they  all  found  ?  That  there  are  cham- 
bers in  the  soul  of  man  that  no  earthly  thing  can  fill ;  deep 
wants,  yearnings  and  desires,  that  no  provision  in  the  height 
or  in  the  depth  can  satisfy ;  a  hunger  that  bread  does  not 
remove,  and  a  thirst  that  water  does  not  quench ;  and  des- 
ert places  that  no  sunshine  can  gladden,  or  dews  freshen  or 
make  blossom  ;  and  pains,  desires,  longings  and  anxieties,  so 
deep,  that  the  more  you  try  to  fill  them  from  earth's  stores, 
the  greater  their  agony  becomes ;  and  so  real,  that  they  prove, 
by  the  pain  they  create,  that  man  was  made  for  a  nobler 
18 


206  BREAD    FOR   THE   BLESSED    LIFE. 

thing  than  bread  alone,  and  that  he  cannot,  and  never  has, 
and  never  will,  live  by  bread  alone. 

Not  only  does  experience  testify  this,  but  there  are  special 
seasons  in  the  life  of  every  man  when  this  experience  is  more 
poignant,  and  the  lesson  more  sensibly  expressed.  Some  of 
these  are  seasons  of  bereavement,  and  affliction,  and  sorrow. 
When  the  only  bread  that  you  had,  and  beyond  which  you 
never  looked,  is  swept  away,  even  the  "  whole  staff  of  bread," 
the  chasm  that  is  left  behind  is  so  intolerable,  that  insanity 
and  suicide  have  not  unfrequently  been  the  issue.  When  the 
only  star  that  shone  upon  life's  long  and  weary  way  has  been 
shrouded,  or  suddenly  disappeared,  as  if  snatched  from  its 
orbit,  and  you  have  been  left  to  grope  in  darkness  without  a 
guide,  and  without  a  light  left  you  on  earth,  and  no  light 
known  beyond  it,  you  have  learned  that  when  you  had  it  it 
was  not  sufficient,  and  now  that  it  is  gone,  and  you  have 
nothing  left  behind,  you  feel  that  man  cannot  and  does  not 
live  by  bread  alone.  You  have  learned,  by  the  loss  of  the 
near  and  the  dear  that  you  loved,  by  the  departure  of  that 
which  was  your  all,  by  the  loss  of  your  only  wealth,  and  health, 
and  spring  of  happiness  upon  earth,  that  there  is  nothing  in 
this  world  that  you  dare  trust  in  as  permanent,  and  that  there 
is  nothing,  when  you  have  it,  adequate  to  satisfy  the  wants 
and  still  the  yearnings  of  an  immortal  soul.  It  is  the  evidence 
of  the  fall  of  man's  soul,  that  he  seeks  to  live  by  bread  alone; 
it  is  the  evidence  of  the  unquenched  grandeur  of  man's  soul, 
that  he  cannot  live  by  bread  alone. 

Especially,  however,  is  this  realized  in  seasons  of  bereave- 
ment. The  Christian,  who  does  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but 
has  something  better,  even  every  word  that  proceedeth  from 
the  mouth  of  God,  to  live  by,  is  not  smitten  down,  like  the 
mere  natural  man,  who  lives  by  bread  alone,  in  sueh  seasons 
of  sorrow  and  bereavement.  The  night  that  comes  to  a 
Christian  discloses  a  thousand  suns  in  the  firmament,  in  ex- 


BREAD    FOR    THE    BLESSED    LIFE.  207 

change  for  the  one  sun  that  has  set ;  and  if  he  has  left  the 
loved,  the  cherished,  and  the  dear,  God's  word,  on  \\hich  he 
lives,  tells  him  that  a  new  star  was  needed  for  a  new  sphere, 
a  new  missionary  for  a  new  place  in  the  skies,  that  the  lost 
is  not  lost,  but  gone  before  ;  and  instead  of  weeping  as  they 
that  have  no  hope,  they  rejoice  that  Christ  will  come,  and  the 
trumpet  shall  sound,  and  they  that  sleep  in  Christ,  and  they 
that  live  in  Christ,  shall  meet  together  in  joyous  recognition, 
and  so  be  forever  with  the  Lord. 

We  learn,  from  our  own  p^sonal  experience,  that  man  does 
not  live  by  bread  alone.  There  is  one  season  that  has  not 
yet  come  to  us,  but  which  must  come  to  all,  a  death-bed, 
when  this  lesson  will  be  felt  with  all  its  force — felt  even  by 
those  who  have  learned  to  live  by  every  word  that  cometh 
out  of  the  mcruth  of  God.  Try  to  anticipate  that  day.  What 
will  be  the  worth  of  gold  and  silver  and  riches,  as  earth  rushes 
from  beneath  your  feet,  and  the  great  unsounded  ocean  of 
eternity  rolls  inward  and  beats  upon  the  shores  of  time? 
What  will  be  the  worth  then  of  rank,  of  splendor,  of  pomp, 
and  of  circumstance,  when  all  are  leaving  you,  and  you  are 
leaving  them,  and  just  as  you  are,  unadorned,  undisguised, 
you  are  about  to  stand  at  the  judgment-seat  of  God,  and 
amid  that  light  in  which  there  is  no  shadow,  and  before  that 
eternity  of  which  there  is  no  reversal  ?  How  deeply  then  will 
you  feel  that  man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone ;  that  there  is 
nothing  in  this  world  that  can  meet  such  a  crisis ;  that  there 
is  nothing  in  its  stores,  in  its  wealth,  in  its  rank,  in  its  riches, 
that  will  give  you  one  moment's  bright  hope,  one  minute's 
real  consolation !  The  richest  and  the  greatest  man  derives 
no  more  joy  on  a  death-bed  from  all  he  had,  than  the  poorest 
man  feels  of  pain  from  the  recollection  of  all  he  had  not. 
We  must  now  draw  our  consolation  from  on  high ;  we  must 
now  eat  of  some  better  bread ;  we  must  now  have  communion 
with  some  nobler  river,  even  the  river  of  life,  or  a  death-bed 


208  BREAD   FOR   THE   BLESSED   LIFE. 

will  be  sad  and  sorrowful,  when  we  learn,  too  late,  to  profit 
by  the  lesson  that  man  doth  not  live  by  bread  alone. 

But  it  is  said,  Man  that  thus  liveth  not  liveth  by  every 
word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God.  Solomon 
made  the  experiment  of  living  by  bread  alone.  The  second 
chapter  of  Ecclesiastes  is  proof  that  the  experiment  is  not  an 
untried  one.  It  comes  down  to  us  attested  by  one  who  has 
tried  it  in  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  and  who  learned, 
by  bitter  and  poignant  regret,  that  man  does  not,  and  cannot, 
and  never  will,  live  by  bread^alone.  In  short,  man  has  a 
higher  destiny  than  time  ;  death  is  not  the  end  of  him.  As 
the  body  needs  food  to  keep  it  till  the  grave  come,  so  the  soul 
needs  its  nutriment  and  its  appropriate  food  to  nourish  it  for 
everlasting  happiness,  and  for  reigning  as  a  king  and  a  priest 
unto  our  God  and  to  his  Christ  for  ever  and  ever. 

Let  me  ask,  are  you  seeking  this  higher  bread,  or  are  you 
satisfied  with  the  lower  ?  If  you  are  satisfied  with  the  lower 
bread,  you  are  bitterly,  I  pray  it  may  not  be  fatally,  deceiving 
your  own  selves.  There  is  no  happiness  in  that  man's  heart 
whose  hopes  and  sympathies,  and  joys  and  life,  are  bounded 
by  the  visible  horizon ;  and  there  is  no  more  prospect  of  hap- 
piness to  that  man's  soul,  who  has  never  hungered  for  the 
bread  of  life,  nor  tasted  it,  and  never  thirsted  for  the  water 
of  life,  and  freely  drank  of  it.  Upon  all  rank,  and  wealth, 
and  pomp,  and  human  greatness,  upon  all  coffers,  and  treas- 
•  ures,  and  broad  acres,  there  is  written  legibly  to  the  eye  of 
faith,  "  Whoso  drinketh  of  this  water  shall  thirst  again  ;  "  but 
upon  truth,  upon  the  Saviour,  upon  the  Bible,  upon  real  reli- 
gion, there  is  legible  to  the  eye  of  the  same  faith  the  sequel 
of  that  precious  sentiment,  "  But  whoso  drinketh  of  the  water 
that  I  shall  give  him,  it  shall  be  within  him  a  well  of  water 
springing  up  unto  everlasting  life."  All  experience,  from  Sol- 
omon's till  now,  attests  the  text,  "  Man  doth  not  live  by  bread 
alone ;  "  and  all  Christian  experience,  from  Adam's  day  till 


BREAD    FOR    THE    BLESSED    LIFE.  209 

now,  tells  us  that  man  doth  live  by  every  word  that  proceed- 
eth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God. 

First,  there  is  the  word  of  truth  which  faith  believes ;  sec- 
ondly, there  is  the  word  of  promise  which  hope  accepts ;  and, 
lastly,  there  is  the  word  of  duty  which  love  obeys.  The  three 
graces  of  a  Christian,  or  the  three  aspects  of  his  new  life,  are, 
faith,  which  believes  the  word  of  truth ;  hope,  which  accepts 
the  word  of  promise  ;  and  love  or  charity,  which  enters  on  the 
path  of  duty  :  and  by  these  three,  the  word  of  truth,  the  word 
of  promise,  the  word  of  duty,  accepted  by  faith,  and  hope,  and 
charity,  man  lives  a  divine,  a  noble,  a  happy  life  ;  a  life  that 
only  lets  go  its  shackles  and  its  limits  when  the  body  is  depos- 
ited in  the  grave ;  while  the  soul,  made  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb,  stands  amid  those  who  have  also  washed  their 
robes,  and  sings  the  song  of  Moses  and  of  the  Lamb  for  ever 
and  ever.  I  have  said,  then,  that  there  is,  first,  the  word  of 
truth,  which  faith  believes.  What  is  that  word  of  truth  ? 
The  revelation  of  God,  and  the  Savioui',  and  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
justification  freely  through  Christ's  righteousness ;  pardon 
freely  and  completely  through  Christ's  most  precious  blood ; 
regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  sanctification  by  his  con- 
tinuous presence  and  power.  These  vital  truths  associated 
with  Christ,  in  whom  and  through  whom  they  are  reached, 
constitute  the  word  of  truth  which  faith  believes,  and,  believ- 
ing, rejoices  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  A  Chris- 
tian believes  that  God  is  ;  therefore,  that  all  must  be  right : 
that  God  governs ;  that,  therefore,  nothing  is  left  to  chance  : 
that  God  is  making  all  things  work  together  for  good  for  him ; 
therefore,  that  no  evil  can  betide  him :  that  God's  eye  is  on 
him;  that  God's  heart  sympathizes  with  him ;  that  God's  pres- 
ence ever  envelops  him ;  and,  therefore,  that  "  neither  life, 
nor  death,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor 
height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  can  separate  him 
from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  If  I  find 
18# 


210  BREAD    FOR  THE    BLESSED    LIFE. 

tliat  I  am  circled  in  the  everlasting  arms,  ttiat  all  winds  help 
me,  and  all  waves  waft  me  to  my  home,  —  if  I  find  that  nothing 
can  permanently  injure  me,  or  separate  me  from  Christ, — then 
I  live  in  perfect  peace ;  I  live  by  this  word  of  truth  that  pro- 
ceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God,  and  have  bread  to  eat  that 
the  world  knoweth  not  of. 

There  is  the  word  of  promise  which  hope  accepts  and  lives 
on.  The  word  of  truth  is  a  present  revelation,  which  faith 
believes  ;  the  word  of  promise  is  a  future  prospect,  which  hope 
anticipates.  Now,  a  Christian  has  not  only  faith  that  leans 
upon  the  unseen  present,  but  he  has  also  hope  which  draws 
nutriment  from  the  sure  and  certain,  because  pledged  and 
promised,  future.  A  Christian's  fiiith  lives  on  the  truth  that 
is  now  made  known  to  him;  a  Christian's  hope  is  cherished 
and  sustained  by  the  future  that  is  promised  to  him ;  and  thus 
faith  draws  the  nutriment  of  its  life  from  things  unseen,  but 
not  unknown ;  and  hope  draws  the  nutriment  of  its  life  from 
things  promised  and  sure  to  be  performed ;  and  so,  by  faith 
and  by  hope,  a  Christian  lives  upon  sources  above  the  world, 
beyond  the  present,  and  the  life  that  he  lives  is  the  life  of  the 
Son  of  God,  who  loved  him  and  gave  himself  for  him  ;  and, 
living  not  by  bread  alone,  but  by  a  supply  from  a  higher 
source,  he  lives  a  happy,  a  joyous,  and  a  blessed  life. 

And,  lastly,  there  is  the  word  of  duty  which  Christian  love 
sets  itself  to  obey.  We  obey  Christ's  word,  not  simply  be- 
cause we  are  his  subjects,  and  he  is  our  King,  but  because  he 
loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us,  and  we  love  him  because  he 
so  loved  us. 

This  love,  planted  in  our  hearts,  quickened  by  the  contact 
of  his,  prompts  the  hand  to  do  what  Christ  bids  us,  and  the 
foot  to  walk  in  the  ways  which  Christ  has  assigned  us  ;  and 
thus,  faith  believing  all  that  Christ  has  revealed,  and  hope 
drawing  into  its  bosom  fi-om  the  future  all  that  Christ  has 
promised,  and  love  going  with  an  ardent  heart  and  an  elastic 


BREAD    FOR    THE    ELESSED    LIFE.  211 

footstep  to  do  all  that  Christ  bids  it,  there  is,  in  the  Chris- 
tian's bosom,  the  highest  happiness  that  can  be  reaped  or  real- 
ized upon  earth ;  the  earnest  and  the  pledge  of  that  perfect 
joy  that  is  at  God's  right  hand,  and  of  those  enduring,  because 
spiritual  pleasures,  that  are  for  ever  and  ever,  and  evermore; 

In  which  category  are  we  ?  Are  we  on  the  negative  side, 
with  those  who  live,  or  try  to  live,  by  bread  alone  ?  We 
have  found  it  —  and  in  our  soberest  and  calmest  moments  we 
confess  it  —  a  most  unsatisfactory  life. 

We  have  thought  often,  If  now  I  could  only  reach  that 
point,  then  I  should  be  at  rest.  We  have  reached  it,  and  we 
find  that  we  are  further  from  rest  than  ever.  We  have  said. 
If  I  could  only  gain  that  position,  then  I  should  be  happy. 
We  have  gained  it,  and  it  has  only  been  a  higher  level,  stand- 
ing upon  which  we  have  seen  a  wider  horizon,  and  discovered 
further  scenes  and  prospects  still  unattained.  The  servant 
has  said,  If  I  were  only  a  master,  I  should  be  happy ;  and 
the  master  has  said.  If  I  were  only  rich,  I  should  be  happy. 
He  is  made  rich,  and  then  he  says.  If  I  were  only  ennobled, 
I  should  be  happy.  He  is  made  a  noble.  Is  he  happy  ?  No. 
If  I  were  only  a  king,  I  should  be  happy.  Has  he  been  happy 
then  ?  No.  If  I  were  to  be  conqueror  of  the  world,  I  should 
be  happy.  Has  he  at  last  been  satisfied  ?  Alexander  wept 
because  he  had  no  more  worlds  to  conquer ;  and  David,  a 
king  and  a  conqueror,  taken  from  the  sheep-folds,  and  seated 
upon  a  royal  throne  unprecedented  for  magnificence,  cried 
from  it,  "0  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove,  that  I  might  flee 
away,  and  be  at  rest  forever  !  "  Here  is  no  rest,  or  satisfac- 
tion, or  peace,  to  be  realized  in  any  change  of  circumstance 
that  man  can  have.  That  person  who  cannot  be  holy  and 
happy  as  a  servant  will  never  be  holy  and  happy  as  a  master ; 
and  that  poor  man  that  cannot  be  holy  and  happy  in  his  pov- 
erty will  never  be  holy  and  happy  when  he  is  made  rich.  It 
is  not  splendid  gardens,  acres  and  estates,   that  make  man 


212  BREAD    FOR   THE   BLESSED   LIFE. 

happy  ;  but  it  is  tlie  happy  man  that  spreads  sunshine  over 
the  cottage  garden,  and  makes  the  humblest  acre,  bleak 
and  unproductive,  blossom  almost  as  the  rose.  Let  the  heart 
be  put  right  in  its  relationship  to  God,  and  all  things  will  be 
right  around  you ;  but,  until  you  have  learned  that  you  can- 
not live  by  bread  alone,  but  only  by  every  word  that  proceed- 
eth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God,  you  will  never  have  learned  the 
nature,  or  tasted  the  sweetness,  of  the  blessed  life. 

Let  us  study  this  blessed  book,  that  reveals  riches  that  take 
not  wings  and  flee  awav ;  let  us  love  this  blessed  religion,  that 
promises  and  never  yet  failed  to  make  happy  him  and  her 
that  become  its  subject;  and  let  us  pray  that  God  would  dis- 
pose our  hearts  no  more  to  seek  happiness  by  hewing  out  cis- 
terns, and  broken  cisterns,  that  can  hold  no  water,  but  to  come 
at  once  to  the  fountain  of  living  waters,  and  to  drink  and  be 
refreshed.  There  is  nothing  in  the  world  grand  enough,  or 
noble  enough,  or  lasting  enough,  to  satisfy  man's  soul.  There 
is  nothing  in  true  religion  that  is  not  fitted  to  give  him  peace 
upon  earth,  and  to  be  a  forelight  of  that  joy,  and  glory,  and 
happiness,  which  will  be  when  things  seen  and  temporal  shall 
bo  »o  more  at  all. 


CHAPTER    XYI. 

REFRESHMENT    AND    REST. 

*•  Love  the  Lord,  and  thou  shalt  see  him  ; 

Do  his  will,  and  thou  shalt  know 
How  the  Spirit  lights  the  letter. 

How  a  little  child  may  go 
Where  the  wise  and  prudent  scumble  ; 

How  a  heavenly  glory  shines 
In  his  acts  of  love  and  mercy. 

From  the  Gospel's  simplest  lines." 

"  I  sat  down  under  his  shadow  with  great  delight,  and  his  fruit  was 
sweet  to  my  taste."  —  Solomon's  Song  2  :  3. 

This  is  evidently  the  language  of  the  church  of  Christ, 
represented  here  and  throughout  the  whole  song  under  the 
beautiful  and  interesting  epithet  of  the  Bride.  She  states, 
not  only  her  admiration  of  the  Bridegroom,  that  is,  the  only 
Saviour,  by  declaring  that  he  is  the  Bose  of  Sharon,  the 
fairest,  most  fragrant  and  loveliest,  that  blooms  in  the  fields 
of  nature,  or  the  gardens  of  man,  but  that  her  experience  of 
■what  he  is,  by  sitting  down  under  the  shadow  of  him  whom 
her  soul  loved,  has  been  so  precious,  that  she  cannot  but 
exhaust  the  most  expressive  metaphors  in  order  to  convey 
her  idea  of  Christ.  "  His  fruit  was  sweet  to  my  taste.  He 
brought  me  to  the  banqueting-house,  and  his  banner  over  me 
was  love."  At  one  time  she  likens  him  to  a  tree,  and  herself 
sitting  under  his  shadow,  and  eating  its  sweet  fruit.  At 
another  time  she  likens  him  to  the  head  of  a  noble  hall  or 


214  REFRESHMENT   AND   REST. 

royal  house,  bringing  her  to  the  banqueting-room,  and  the 
very  banner  that  was  over  her  in  the  cool  of  evening  was 
beautiful  with  love. 

In  this  instance  she  is  seated,  and  sheltered  from  the  sun- 
shine, under  the  cool  and  wide-spread  shade  of  the  tree  of. 
life ;  and  not  only  is  she  refreshed,  and  defended  from  the 
intense  heat  of  the  day,  but  she  also  partakes  of  and  gathers 
his  fruit,  which  she  finds  to  be  sweet  to  her  taste.  This  figure 
is  not  new  in  its  application  to  our  Lord.  He  tells  us  him- 
self, "  I  am  the  vine,  and  ye  are  the  branches ;"  and,  in 
that  beautiful  Apocalyptic  portrait  of  the  age  that  is  to  be, 
we  read  that  in  the  midst  of  the  street  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
there  was  the  tree  of  life.  That  portrait  is  to  be  actualized 
in  this  world :  for  I  gather  from  the  whole  of  the  last  two 
chapters  of  the  book  of  Revelation  that  they  state  what  is 
to  be  on  earth,  and  nothing  at  all  of  what  is  to  be  beyond  it. 
The  heaven  of  the  people  of  God  will  be  this  earth,  after  it 
has  undergone  a  change  as  complete  as  the  bodies  of  the 
people  of  God,  when  they  are  raised  from  the  dead.  The 
earth  will  have  its  regenesis  just  as  our  bodies  will  have  their 
resurrection ;  and  then  it  will  be  a  meet  dwelling-place  for 
the  risen  and  glorified  people  of  God.  "  I  saw  the  holy  city, 
New  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  pre- 
pared as  a  bride  " — the  very  figure  of  this  song — "  adorned 
for  her  husband."  He  saw  this  coming  down  from  heaven — 
that  is,  the  descent  of  all  the  saints  who  are  in  heaven,  now 
coming  down  to  earth,  made  meet  for  their  residence,  and  the 
saints  that  slept  raised  from  the  dead,  and  meeting  them  mid- 
way, and  so  the  tabernacle  of  God  will  be  with  men.  In  the 
midst  of  this  scene,  to  be  actualized  on  the  face  of  this  earth, 
he  says  he  saw  "  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear  as  crys- 
tal, proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb. 
In  the  midst  of  the  street  of  it,  and  on  either  side  of  the 
river,  was  there  a  tree  of  life,"  —  as  it  ous-ht  to  be  trans- 


REFRESHMENT    AND    REST.  215 

Jated,  —  *^  which  have  twelve  manner  of  fruits,  and  yiekled 
her  fruit  every  month  ;  and  the  leaves  of  the  tree  were  for 
the  healing  of  the  nations." 

This  is,  indeed,  the  blessed  life.  What  may  we  suppose  to 
be  the  special  enjoyment  of  the  bride  when  she  sits  beside 
the  Bridegroom,  or  under  the  shadow  of  that  tree  whose  fruit 
she  tastes  ?  There  is,  first,  the  idea  of  protection.  Under  a 
wide-spreading  and  magnificent  tree  we  have  protection  from 
the  stormy  wind,  as  well  as  its  cool  shadow  to  shelter  us  from 
the  sunbeams  of  mid-day. 

We  have  also  conveyed  the  idea  of  refreshment ;  weary  in 
the  sunshine,  we  are  refreshed  and  cooled  by  the  shadow,  and 
we  enjoy  it  to  a  degree  that  they  only  can  appreciate  who 
have  been  in  sultry  climates,  and  have  felt  what  Isaiah  calls 
the  shadow  of  a  great  rock,  or  of  a  wide-spreading  tree,  in  a 
heated  and  a  sultry  land. 

We  have  also  rest.  She  sat  down  under  his  shadow.  The 
way-worn  pilgrim  took  a  momentary  rest ;  the  traveller, 
wearied  out  with  a  long  and  arduous  journey,  —  the  sky  as 
brass  above,  and  the  earth  as  iron  beneath,  —  sat  down  under 
the  wide-spreading  tree,  and  found  that  repose  which  is  the 
best  type  of  the  rest  which  Christ  will  give :  "  Come  unto 
me,  all  ye  that  are  weary  and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest."     "  There  remaineth  a  rest  for  the  people  of  God." 

Now,  all  this,  it  is  true,  is  imagery ;  but,  like  all  imagery, 
it  has  its  reality.  It  teaches  us  this  great  lesson,  that  there 
is,  in  resting  on  Christ,  in  loving  him,  in  communion  with 
him,  in  seeking  his  glory,  in  trusting  in  him  as  the  only 
Saviour,  protection,  refreshment,  rest  and  peace,  all  the  ele- 
ments of  a  blessed  life. 

Have  we  found  this  ?  Does  religion  give  us  now  refresh- 
ment and  peace  ?  Does  it  furnish  to  us  a  resting-place  in 
the  midst  of  an  agitated  world,  where  all  things  move  to  and 
fro  ?     We  are  Christians  just  in  proportion  as  we  are  Chris- 


216  REFRESnMENT    AND    REST. 

tianizod ;  and  we  are  Christianized  just  in  proportion  as  we 
feel  consciously  in  our  happy  experience  that  we  have  some 
one  to  go  to  when  troubles  overwhelm  us,  a  shelter  to  come 
under  when  the  sunbeams  of  persecution  beat  upon  us,  a 
resting-place,  a  peaceful  ark,  to  which  wing-weary  we  may 
return  for  rest. 

The  bride  says,  she  found  his  fruit  sweet  to  her  taste. 
The  fruit  of  a  tree  is  what  it  produces  for  the  service  of  man; 
and,  what  fruit  is  to  a  tree,  certain  blessings  which  Christ  has 
prepared  and  bestowed  are  to  him  for  us  and  for  our  comfort. 
What  are  some  of  the  fruits  that  grow  and  ripen  on  this  tree 
planted  in  the  midst  of  the  Paradise  of  God  ?  The  first  fruit 
is,  the  handwriting  that  was  against  us  is  blotted  out.  We 
are  no  longer  under  the  curse  of  a  broken  law,  but  under  the 
blessing  of  a  law  magnified  and  made  honorable.  Another  fruit 
is  our  title  to  heaven.  We  are  made  righteous  by  the  right- 
eousness of  him  who  was  made  sin  in  our  stead,  and  endured 
its  curse,  that  we  might  never  endure  it.  We  triumph  over 
Satan ;  we  have  victory  over  death;  the  grave  is  to  us  no  prison, 
but  only  a  short  and  transient  pathway.  We  have  his  Holy 
Spirit  poured  down  and  given  to  us ;  we  have  his  promise  to 
come  again  to  us  ;  we  have  his  preparing  many  mansions  for 
us;  and  we  have  next  in  him,  and  because  of  our  union  to 
him,  defiance  of  all  accusers.  "Who  s^iall  lay  anything  to 
the  charge  of  God's  elect  ?  It  is  God  that  justifieth.  Who 
is  he  that  conderaneth  ?  It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea,  rather, 
that  is  risen  again."  In  short,  we  might  take  the  catechism, 
and  sum  up  all  the  purchased  blessings  of  the  new  covenant, 
and  see  in  them  the  fruits  that  this  tree  bears,  — justification, 
sanctification,  regeneration,  adoption  into  the  family  of  God, 
assurance  of  happiness,  the  hope  of  glory,  peace  in  the  con- 
science, joy  in  the  affections,  light  in  the  understanding, 
strength  for  our  journey,  and  the  certainty  that  he  who  has 
begun  the  good  work  in  us  will  complete  it  to  the  end.     In 


REFRESnMENT    AND    Ri:ST.  "  217 

short,  whatever  blessing  we  have  mentioned  in  the  Bible  as 
the  purchase  of  Christ,  and  a  gift  to  us,  that  blessing  is  a 
fruit  that  hangs  ripe  upon  this  tree  planted  in  the  midst  of 
the  Paradise  of  God. 

This  fruit  is  accessible.  It  is  not  fruit  that  swings  in  the 
winds  and  shines  in  the  sunbeams  at  a  distance ;  we  can 
reach  it  and  gather  it,  and  we  are  welcome  to  eat  it.  "  His 
fruit  was  sweet  to  my  taste."  This  fruit  is  satisfying.  The 
best  things  in  this  world  give  but  a  transient  delight,  and 
often  the  reaction  of  all  earth's  joys  is  sadness  and  sorrow; 
but  the  fruit  that  Christ  gives  us  has  a  joy  and  a  satisfaction 
that  is  complete.  We  are  not  spending  our  money  for  that 
which  is  not  bread,  and  our  labor  for  that  which  profiteth 
not ;  we  are  receiving  that  which  is  rest  and  satisfaction 
indeed. 

Let  us  recognize  this  tree  alone  as  the  only  one  that  can 
give  sufficient  shadow,  and  that  bears  fruit  that  is  really 
sweet  and  satisfying.  Go  to  other  trees,  and  you  will  be  dis- 
appointed; but  have  recourse  to  this,  and  you  will  be  satis- 
fied. We  are  not  simply  to  look  at  it,  but  to  sit  down  under 
it.  When  a  person  sits  down,  it  implies  rest.  You  are  not 
a  mere  traveller  passing  by  it,  or  a  mere  spectator  looking  at 
it,  but  you  are  weary  and  sitting  down  for  rest,  having  felt 
the  scorching  heat  of  noonday,  and  now  delighted  with  this 
shadow  ;  and  hungry,  and  seeking  to  be  fed  by  its  sweet  and 
pleasant  fruit.  This  expression  "  eat,"  as  applied  to  Chris- 
tianity, is  a  very  strong,  but  a  very  just  one.  What  we  eat 
is  incorporated  with  our  bodies,  and  becomes  sinews,  bones, 
flesh  and  blood,  which  are  the  elements  of  our  physical 
strength  and  endurance  in  the  world.  This  figure  is  meant  to 
teach  us  that  the  blessings  of  Christianity,  the  pleasant  fruits 
that  grow  upon  this  tree,  are  to  be  in  our  case  incorporated 
with  our  very  life ;  so  that  Christ's  life  is  to  be  our  life,  his 
righteousness  our  righteousness,  his  strength  our  strength. 
19 


218  REFRESHMENT    AND    REST. 

We  are  to  be  strong  in  him,  and  the  life  that  we  live  is  to  be, 
not  our  own,  but  his.  In  the  world,  therefore,  we  shall  not 
be  of  it,  but  conquerors  over  it. 

lleligion  is  first  a  personal  thing.  It  is  not  "  we," — a 
body,  a  corporation,  —  but  "  I  sat  down  under  his  shadow, 
and  his  fruit  was  sweet  to  my  taste."  And  therefore  the  very 
first  and  most  momentous  question  that  we  must  ask  is, 
"  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  What  my  neighbor  does 
certainly  concerns  me ;  and,  if  he  does  wrong,  I  ought  to 
pray  for  him,  and  try  to  put  him  right.  But  the  time  to  do 
that  is  after  I  have  ascertained  that  I  myself  am  right;  that 
is,  that  I  have  what  he  has  not,  the  Saviour.  Keligion  is, 
first,  but  not  finally,  a  personal  thing. 

All  real  religion  is  experimental.  It  is  not  a  theory  for 
clever  wits  to  discuss,  but  an  experience  for  the  human  heart 
to  enjoy.  The  believer  here  says,  "  I  was  conscious  that  I 
sat  down,  and  I  enjoyed  the  cool  shadow  of  the  outspread 
boughs ;  and  I  tasted  this  fruit,  and  I  found  it  sweet."  Eeli- 
gion  is  therefore  an  experimental  thing.  It  is  not  subscription 
to  a  creed ;  it  is  not  acceptance  of  a  dogma,  doctrine  or 
tenet,  by  the  intellect ;  but  it  is  the  enjoyment  of  a  life,  a 
power  and  influence,  in  the  regenerated  heart.  It  is  not  a 
beautiful  creed,  but  a  blessed  life. 

We  state  this  our  happy  experience  of  what  religion  is, 
not  as  parade,  nor  as  boasting,  nor  as  vain-glory,  but  in  order 
that  others,  seeing  how  happy  it  has  made  us,  may  inquire 
where  the  fountain  is  that  furnishes  such  sweet  springs,  where 
the  tree  is  that  bears  so  delicious  fruit,  and  where  and 
what  is  that  shadow  in  whose  cool  enveloping  embrace  there 
is  so  much  repose  and  enjoyment.  Hence,  the  Psalmist  says, 
"  Come,  all  ye  that  fear  God,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  he 
hath  done  for  my  soul,"  not  for  me  to  be  boastful,  but  for  you 
to  be  benefited.  Experimental,  personal,  practical  religion 
will  not  only  enable  us  to  do  justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk 


REFRESHMENT    AND   REST.  219 

humbly  with  God, — for  these  are  its  most  ordinary  fruits, 
■which  the  natural  man  in  some  degree  brings  forth, — but  it 
will  give  conscience  peace,  and  make  our  hearts  beat  with 
joy  ;  it  will  impart  in  the  world  a  sense  of  superiority  and 
independence  ;  a  rest  amid  restlessness,  a  quiet  amid  storms, 
an  energy  amid  difficulties,  and  a  hope  in  the  dreariest  hours 
and  darkness  of  the  world's  despair,  that  will  make  us  visibly 
differ  from  those  who,  whilst  just  and  honest,  are  strangers  to 
that  elevation,  that  grandeur  of  hope,  and  that  happiness  of 
heart,  which  are  the  evidences  of  the  blessed  life. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE    BLESSED    MOTHER. 

**  But  svicli  a  sacred  and  homefelt  delight, 
Such  sober  certainty  of  waking  bliss, 
I  never  felt  till  now." 

«  And  Mary  said.  My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord,  and  my  spirit  hath 
rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour."  —  Luke  1  :  46,  47. 

Because  the  Virgin  Mary  has  been  made  an  idol  by  some, 
it  may  not  and  does  not  follow  that  we  should  be  blind  and 
insensible  to  the  beauty  of  her  character  as  a  blessed  mother 
and  a  distinguished  Christian,  highly  favored  of  the  Lord 
in  both  respects.  She  plainly  regards  herself,  not  as  a  god- 
dess to  be  set  up  on  the  throne,  but  as  a  humble  sinner  saved 
by  grace,  and  a  worshipper  beside  the  footstool.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  striking  proofs  of  the  prophetic  and  allusive 
nature  of  the  words  of  Jesus,  that  there  are,  in  the  Gospels, 
so  many  and  so  striking  anticipatory  references  to  the  wor- 
ship that  would  one  day  be  paid  to  Mary  in  after  ages. 
Three  or  four  different  times  she  appears  in  the  Gospels,  and 
almost  each  time  it  is,  if  not  to  receive  a  rebuke,  at  least  to 
suggest  some  reason  for  looking  high  above  the  favored 
mother,  and  to  trust  only  in  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of 
the  guilty. 

In  Matthew  12 :  46,  we  find  a  very  remarkable  instance 
of  this :  "  While  he  yet  talked  to  the  people,  behold  his 
mother  and  his  brethren  stood  without,  desiring  to  speak  with 


THE   BLESSED   MOTHER.  221 

him.  Then  one  said  unto  him,  Behold,  thy  mother  and  thy 
brethren  stand  without,  desiring  to  speak  with  thee.  But  he 
answered  and  said  unto  him  that  told  him,  Who  is  my  mother? 
and  who  are  my  brethren  ?  And  he  stretched  forth  his  hand 
toward  his  disciples,  and  said.  Behold  my  mother  and  my 
brethren  !  For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother,  and  sister,  and 
mother."  What  a  striking  indication  that  all  relationship 
by  nature  was  to  be  merged  in  a  more  magnificent  relation- 
ship by  grace ;  and  that  they  that  do  the  will  of  Jesus  are 
admitted  to  a  dignity  that  makes  them  fellow-heirs  of  the 
same  blessedness  that  Mary  shares  ! 

We  have  another  instance  in  Mark  3 :  32,  where  thesa 
words  occur  :  "  And  the  multitude  sat  about  him,  and  they 
said  unto  him.  Behold,  thy  mother  and  thy  brethren  without 
seek  for  thee.  And  he  answered  them,  saying.  Who  is  my 
mother,  or  my  brethren  ?  And  he  looked  round  about  on 
them  which  sat  about  him,  and  said,  Behold  my  mother  and 
my  brethren !  For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  God,  the 
same  is  my  brother,  and  my  sister,  and  mother."  In  another 
place  a  woman  said  to  him,  "  Blessed  is  the  womb  that  bare 
thee,  and  the  breasts  which  thou  hast  sucked."  But  what 
was  his  answer  ?  Did  he  say.  Yes,  she  is  blessed ;  and, 
because  she  is  the  mother  of  my  human  nature,  therefore  let 
her  be  constituted  the  queen  of  heaven  ?  No,  but  he  said, 
"  Yea,  rather,  blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God, 
and  do  it."  The  last  time  she  appears  in  the  Gospel  in  con- 
nection with  these  and  similar  remarks  of  our  Lord  is  in 
John  2,  where  Jesus  was  invited  to  a  marriage  festival ;  the 
wine  failed,  and  Mary,  sensitive  of  what  she  thought  due  to 
her  relatives,  and  knowing  that  Jesus  had  done  wondrous 
works  in  the  presence  of  the  people,  said  to  him,  "  They 
have  no  wine,"  —  as  much  as  to  say,  We  should  wish  that 
thou,  who  hast  all  power,  wouldest  create  and  give  what  they 
19# 


222  THE   BLESSED   MOTHER. 

cannot  buy,  and  thus  cannot  otherwise  procure,  lest  their 
poverty  be  detected.  Jesus'  reply  to  her  was  a  very  striking 
one,  "  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?"  —  as  if  he  had 
said,  Now  my  ministry  is  begun  (for  he  had  just  begun  his 
public  ministry),  and  here  I  must  be  alone.  The  tears  of  a 
mother  must  not  mingle  with  those  of  her  suffering  Son. 
You,  Mary,  must  fall  back  into  the  obscurity  that  becomes  a 
creature,  and  depart  in  shadow ;  and  I  only  must  rise  lumin- 
ous and  glorious,  absorbing  every  light  in  my  splendor.  I 
must  tread  the  wine-press  alone ;  I  must  monopolize  all  the 
suffering,  and  receive  therefore  all  the  glory ;  not  even  a 
mother  must  share  in  the  sorrows  that  have  no  companion 
and  no  comparison ;  and,  therefore,  a  mother  incapable  of 
sharing  my  sorrows  must  not  participate  in  my  glory.  Mary, 
you  must  decrease  and  disappear,  that  I,  engaged  about  my 
Father's  business,  may  be  all  and  in  all. 

And  very  remarkable  it  is,  the  last  time  that  Mary 
appears  in  the  New  Testament  is  in  the  first  chapter  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  where  her  name  is  just  mentioned, 
and  no  more. 

Now,  can  there  be,  in  all  this,  the  least  foundation  for  the 
very  sad  and  very  awful  homage  that  is  paid  to  Mary  in  the 
Church  of  Kome  ? 

Let  us  turn  to  Mary  herself,  and  see  what  her  feelings 
were.  "  My  soul,"  she  says,  "  doth  magnify  the  Lord."  She 
gives  all  the  glory  to  her  Lord ;  not  an  atom  does  she 
reserve  for  herself,  not  one  ray  does  she  seize  wherewith 
to  encircle  her  own  head.  She  kneels  at  his  footstool,  a 
lowly  worshipper.  She  thinks  it  privilege  enough  to  wor- 
ship ;  never  dreams  she  of  being  worshipped.  Let  us  study 
the  example  of  Mary;  it  is  beautiful,  it  is  a  precedent  for 
us,  —  a  worshipper  beside  the  footstool,  not  a  goddess  on 
God's  right  hand. 

Let  us  mark,  in  the  next  place,  her  worship  —  how  truly 


THE   BLESSED    MOTHER.  223 

personal.  "  My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord,  and  my  spirit 
hath  rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour."  All  worship  must  be 
personal  before  it  becomes  social,  it  must  be  individual 
before  it  can  be  public.  We  must  have  learned  in  the  depths 
of  the  heart  to  say  "  My  Father,"  before,  in  the  midst  of 
the  great  congregation,  we  are  able  to  say  "  Our  Father." 
There  must  be,  first,  insulation  from  the  world  and  personal 
communion  with  God,  before  there  can  be  true  mingling  with 
the  church,  in  prayer  and  praise.  It  must  be  first  "  My 
soul,"  before  it  is  "  Our  souls,"  — "  My  spirit,"  before  "Our 
spirits." 

Her  worship  was  purely  spiritual,  —  no  outward  incense, 
no  record  of  prostration,  genuflexion,  or  splendid  ceremony  ; 
it  was  not  standing,  kneeling,  sitting,  —  these  are  the  details, 
scarcely  worthy  of  mention,  never  fit  for  dispute.  "  My  son, 
—  my  daughter, —  give  me  thine  heart,"  is  God's  demand; 
and  Mary  responds  to  the  demand,  and  says,  "  My  soul  doth 
magnify  the  Lord,  and  my  spirit  doth  rejoice  in  God  my 
Saviour."  The  soul  has  often  worshipped  on  the  exchange, 
and  the  body  only  has  often  worshipped  in  the  congregation. 
The  heart  has  often  rejoiced  in  God  the  Saviour  on  the 
crowded  streets,  when  the  knee  only  has  bowed,  or  the  voice 
only  been  uplifted,  in  the  sanctuary.  No  pomp  or  splendor 
of  ritual  in  God's  worship  is  any  compensation  for  an  absent 
soul ;  and  a  present  soul,  earnestly  engaged,  gives  a  conse- 
cration that  nothing  else  can  command,  or  be  a  substitute  for. 

The  worship  of  Mary  was  singularly  humble.  She  owned 
herself  a  sinner.  She  says,  "  My  soul  doth  magnify  the 
Lord,  and  my  spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour.^' 
Who  needs  a  Saviour  ?  A  sinner.  If  Mary  was  born  inno- 
cent, immaculate,  sinless,  she  would  not  have  needed  a 
Saviour ;  but  the  fact  that  she  rejoiced  in  God,  in  his  rela- 
tionship to  her  as  a  Saviour,  is  the  admission,  "  I  am  a  mis- 
erable sinner."     We  may  rest  assured  that  Mary  occupies 


224  THE   BLESSED   MOTHER. 

her  lofty  place  among  tlie  choirs  of  the  blessed,  not  in  the 
least  degree  because  she  was  the  mother  of  our  Lord,  but 
wholly  and  solely  because  she  washed  her  robes  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 

The  part  of  the  passage  on  which  I  had  wished  particu- 
larly, however,  to  dwell,  is,  the  joy  that  Mary  felt  as  an 
inheritor  of  the  blessed  life.  Is  she  a  precedent  for  us  in 
this  respect  ?  —  does  joy  become  Christians  ?  It  does,  much 
more  than  sadness,  much  more  than  sorrow.  There  may  be 
much  in  ourselves  to  make  the  best  of  us  sad,  but  there  is 
more  in  Christ  to  make  the  worst  of  us  rejoice.  It  is  very 
remarkable,  in  reading  God's  word,  how  very  frequently  we 
are  exhorted  to  joy.  Hannah  said,  of  old,  "  My  heart 
rejoiceth  in  the  Lord."  David  says,  "  My  soul  shall  rejoice 
in  God."  Abraham  saw  Christ's  day  afar  off,  and  rejoiced. 
"  The  Christians  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their  goods." 
The  kingdom  of  God  is  defined  to  be  "  righteousness,"  — 
that  is  one,  —  "peace,"  —  that  is  the  second,  —  "joy,"  — 
that  is  the  third ;  there  are  three  component  elements  of 
the  kingdom  of  God.  The  first  is  character,  the  last  two  are 
privilege.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  to  be  as  much  a  Chris- 
tian's duty  to  rejoice,  as  it  is  a  Christian's  duty  to  pray. 
And  I  am  sure  that  the  very  first  effect  of  the  Gospel  is  to 
make  a  man's  heart  happy ;  and  its  secondary  but  ever  suc- 
ceeding efiect  is  to  make  a  man's  life  holy.  The  Gospel  does 
not  teach  happiness  through  holiness,  but  it  teaches  holiness 
through  happiness.  The  first  efiect  produced  is  joy  because 
of  good  news ;  the  second  —  the  necessary  efi"cct —  is  devoted- 
ness  to  him  who  is  the  subject  of  the  good  news,  in  whatever 
things  are  pure,  and  just,  and  honest,  and  lovely,  and  of  good 
report.  But  there  are  many  other  passages  of  the  same 
kind.  For  instance,  "  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  joy."  He 
spake  unto  them,  that  their  joy  might  be  full.  And  again, 
the  apostle  says,  "  Count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall  into  divers 


THE   BLESSED    MOTHER.  225 

tribulations."  And  Paul  says,  "  Rejoice  —  and  again  I  say, 
Rejoice."  There  are  so  many  exhortations  to  joy,  that  one 
wonders  that  Christians  are  not  the  most  joyous  men ;  and  if 
they  be  not  so,  it  is  not  because  the  spring  of  joy  is  exhaust- 
ed, but  because  something  in  their  character  obstructs  its 
influx,  or  they  have  some  misconceptions  of  the  character  of 
God ;  and  it  is  on  this  account  that  they  mourn  when  they 
ought  to  rejoice,  and  clothe  themselves  in  the  weeds  of  sorrow 
when  they  ought  to  be  arrayed  in  their  bridal  robes,  as  the 
chosen  of  Chi-ist,  and  the  heirs  of  his  glory. 

Let  us  endeavor  to  ascertain  what  is  the  character  of  this 
joy  that  Mary  felt,  and  that  all  true  Christians  may  feel.  It 
is  impossible  to  suppose  that  a  man  has  been  turned  from 
darkness  to  light,  through  the  influence  of  the  Spirit,  and  the 
truth  applied  by  the  Spirit  to  his  heart,  without  his  feeling 
some  measure  of  joy.  The  first  transition  must  be  accompa- 
nied with  joy.  Deliverance  from  darkness  into  the  kingdom 
of  God's  dear  Son,  the  opening  of  the  eyes  to  all  the  light 
and  loveliness  of  heaven,  the  scattering  our  prejudices,  the 
revelation  to  our  hearts  of  God  as  the  sin-forgiving  God, 
must  naturally  create  a  joy  deep  in  proportion  to  the  sense 
that  we  have  of  the  goodness  of  him  who  is  its  author,  and 
of  the  blessed  hope  that  we  are  the  heirs  of  salvation.  But 
this  joy  that  a  Christian  feels  on  his  first  conversion  is  not 
permanent ;  it  ceases,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  to  be  a  passion, 
and  comes  to  be  more  and  more  a  principle.  The  Christian 
character  parts  with  the  fervor  of  its  first  feelings;  but  that 
fervor  is  not  destroyed ;  it  rather  becomes  consolidated  into 
the  fixity  of  a  permanent  and  governing  principle.  And 
though,  therefore,  the  first  feelings  of  our  acquaintance  with 
the  truth  may  have  departed,  our  present  calm,  and  deep  and 
abiding  enjoyment,  may  not  be  the  less  real  or  the  less  spir- 
itual. 

This  joy,  when  felt  by  a  Christian,  is  partly  the  joy  of  in- 


226  THE    BLESSED    MOTHER. 

creasing  knowledge.  Everybody  knows  that  nothing  is  more 
delightful,  or  occasions  greater  joy,  than  our  having  made 
some  grand  discovery,  or  taken  some  new  step  in  acquaintance 
with  the  world  that  is  around  us,  and  the  phenomena  or  facts 
that  are  in  nature.  Ignorance  may  be  sadness,  but  progress 
in  knowledge  is  always  connected  with  joy.  Archimedes  was 
so  delighted  with  his  last  mathematical  discovery,  that  he  was 
insensible  to  the  noise  of  the  besieging  foes  that  were  gather- 
ing round  him  to  destroy  him.  When  the  spark  was  first 
struck  from  the  kite,  Franklin  was  so  overwhelmed  with  joy 
that  he  was  scarcely  able  to  bear  it.  And  Christians,  as  they 
grow  in  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  God,  and  in  clearer 
apprehensions  of  the  truth,  in  greater  anticipations  of  the 
glory  that  is  to  be  revealed,  experience  —  each  according  to 
his  constitution  and  temperament  —  a  joy  that  the  stranger 
cannot  intermeddle  with. 

In  the  next  place,  Christians  have  a  joy  that  I  may  call 
the  joy  of  worship.  It  is  a  joyful  thing  to  worship  God. 
Let  us  come  into  his  courts  with  praise,  and  into  his  gates 
with  thanksgiving ;  let  us  be  glad  in  him,  and  sing  hymns  to  ~ 
him.  "  I  will  go  unto  God  —  unto  the  altar  of  God  —  God, 
my  exceeding  joy."  And  is  there  not  joy  in  praising  God  ? 
The  Psalmist's  words  upon  a  people's  lips,  that  are  the  ex- 
pression of  a  people's  hearts,  are  inspired  by  joy. 

Again,  there  is  a  joy,  not  vouchsafed  to  all,  nor,  indeed,  the 
duty  of  all,  but  that  all  may  have;  I  mean  the  joy  of  full 
assurance.  The  ordinary  Christian  believes  on  Christ  in  order 
to  be  saved,  and  saved  he  will  be ;  but  the  Christian  who  has 
advanced  to  the  full  assurance  of  faith  can  say,  "  I  know  in 
whom  I  have  believed,  and  that  he  is  able  to  keep  what  I 
have  committed  to  him  against  that  day."  The  ordinary 
Christian  has  true  faith,  the  fruit  of  which  is  everlasting 
glory ;  but  the  Christian  who  enjoys  the  precious  privilege 
and  full  assurance  of  faith  has  not  only  the  safety  of  the 


THE    BLESSED    MOTHER.  227 

other,  but  he  has  in  this  world  an  earnest,  and  a  prelibation, 
and  a  foretaste  of  the  happiness  that  is  to  be  revealed. 

There  is  joy  in  the  hopes  that  a  Christian  may  cherish. 
There  is  not  only  the  full  assurance  of  faith,  but  there  is  the 
full  assurance  of  hope.  If  I  am  sure  that  Christ  is  mine, 
and  that  I  am  his,  —  if  my  spirit  doth  rejoice  in  God  my 
Saviour,  —  I  can  look  forward  to  the  grave  without  dismay, 
and  can  expect  the  approach  of  death,  conscious  that  he  has 
lost  his  sting ;  and  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  stand  at  the  great 
tribunal  without  spot  and  blameless  in  God's  blamelessness,  at 
that  day. 

And  I  know  that  when  I  am  admitted  into  the  realms  of 
glory,  if  I  am  a  child  of  God,  it  will  be  to  meet  all  those 
who  have  been  taken  away  from  me  by  death,  who  fell  asleep 
in  Jesus ;  and  there  constitute  forever  a  happy,  holy  and 
blessed  company,  forever  with  the  Lord. 

A  Christian,  therefore,  has  joy  from  the  past,  joy  from  the 
present,  and  joy  from  the  future ;  and  he  may  indeed,  with  an 
emphasis  that  the  world  cannot  understand,  instinctively  ex- 
claim, "  My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord,  and  my  spirit  hath 
rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour." 

But  every  Christian  has  not  the  joy  of  assurance.  If  so, 
are  there  any  reasons  why  we  have  not  all  the  sweet  joy  that 
Mary  had  ?  There  are  many ;  first  there  are  desponding 
thoughts,  —  still  worse,  desponding  thoughts  of  God,  — which 
wither  the  richest  joys,  nip  the  least  in  the  bud,  and  freeze 
all  the  streams  of  gladness  in  the  human  heart.  But  such 
views  are  wrong.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  worst  should 
despair,  as  there  is  no  reason  why  the  best  should  presume ; 
and,  instead  of  entertaining  despairing  thoughts  of  God,  the 
glorious  privilege  is  offered  to  every  one  to  go  to  him  as  to 
a  father,  and  to  feel  in  his  presence  all  the  affection  and  the 
relationship  of  sons. 

Another  reason  why  Christians  have  not  this  joy  is  that 


228  THE    BLESSED    MOTHER. 

they  do  not  all  look  intently  enough  to  Christ  as  their  only 
Saviour ;  they  look  too  much  to  themselves,  where  there  are 
only  elements  of  disquiet,  and  they  fail,  so  far,  to  look  to 
Christ,  where  alone  is  every  element  of  satisfaction  and  re- 
pose. A  patient  who  takes  the  prescription  that  the  physi- 
cian recommends  —  having  confidence  in  his  skill  —  will  have 
perfect  peace ;  but  the  patient  who  pays  little  attention  to 
the  orders  of  the  physician,  and  feels  only  his  own  pulse,  is 
sure  to  be  disquieted,  as  well  as  to  have  little  prospect  or 
chance  of  cure.  It  is  so  with  the  Christian ;  he  who  is  look- 
ing to  himself,  instead  of  looking  at  his  Lord,  extracting 
from  his  own  heart  the  elements  on  which  he  is  to  live,  and 
drawing  from  the  external  world  the  elements  that  make  hhn 
worse,  will  inevitably  be  sad,  depressed  and  cast  down.  Let 
us,  therefore,  if  we  wish  to  have  this  joy,  and  have  it  more 
abundantly,  run  the  race  set  before  us,  looking  to  Jesus,  the 
author  and  the  finisher  of  our  faith. 

Another  reason  why  a  Christian  is  a  stranger  to  joy  is 
his  sometimes  living  in  the  conscious  violation  of  what  his 
conscience  tells  him  is  plain  duty.  Jonah,  in  the  ship,  raised 
a  storm ;  and  sin,  knowingly  practised  by  a  Christian,  will 
disturb,  if  it  do  not  destroy,  his  soul,  waste  away  all  Christian 
joy,  and  make  the  heart,  that  should  be  bounding,  heavy,  dis- 
consolate and  sad. 

Another  reason  of  the  absence  of  such  joy  is  excessive 
love  of  the  world,  —  I  mean  its  ways,  and  frivolities,  and 
pleasures.  It  seems  impossible  that  the  love  of  Christ  and 
the  love  of  the  world  can  coexist  in  the  same  heart ;  and,  if 
you  try  to  combine  them,  there  will  be  no  comfort  from  the 
world,  and  there  will  be  no  joy  from  Christ;  and  such  a  man 
will  be  a  sort  of  borderer  between  the  world  and  Christ,  — 
he  will  have  neither  the  opiate  peace  of  the  one,  nor  the 
bright  and  sustaining  joy  of  the  other.  Demas  took  as  his 
only  portion  the  world,  and  his  doom  was  tears  and  hopeless 


THE   BLESSED    MOTHER.  229 

suffering ;  and,  in  proportion  as  we  follow  and  imitate  his 
example,  shall  we  lose  the  sunny  joy  that  Mary  so  richly 
possessed;  for  there  can  be  joy  in  a  Christian's  life  only  in 
proportion  as  Christ  is  more  thought  of,  and  the  world,  and 
the  things  of  the  world,  are  cast  farther  into  the  backo-round. 

Another  reason  why  Christians  may  not  have  this  joy  is 
their  neglect  of  ordinances.  I  do  not  say  that  God  is  tied  to 
public  worship,  nor  do  I  say  that  the  Lord's  supper,  baptism, 
and  all  those  outward  signs,  are  essential  to  salvation ;  but  I 
do  say  that  these  are  wells  in  the  valley  of  Baca,  they  are 
water  in  the  desert  supplied  from  the  fountain  of  living  waters, 
and  he  that  lives  without  them  either  must  belong  to  a  higher 
and  more  spiritual  sphere,  of  which  he  gives  no  evidence,  or 
he  must  fail  to  realize  that  joy  which  is  the  portion  of  them 
who  go  on  from  strength  to  strength,  and  rejoice  in  the  Lord 
all  the  day  long. 

Let  me  show,  in  few  words,  how  we  are  to  obtain  this  joy. 
First,  think  only  of  duty,  and  leave  the  joy  to  follow  its  per- 
formance. Do  not  do  a  thing  in  order  to  obtain  this  joy,  but 
do  what  Christ  bids  you,  and  leave  him  to  give  the  measure 
of  joy  that  he,  in  his  love,  sees  to  be  best  fitted  for  you.  He 
says  himself,  "  He  that  doeth  my  commandments,  and  keepeth 
them,  he  it  is  that  loveth  me ;  and  he  that  loveth  me,  I  will 
love  him,  and  will  manifest  myself  unto  him.  And  these 
things  have  I  said  unto  you,  that  your  joy  might  be  full." 

In  the  second  place,  rest  simply,  exclusively,  from  first  to 
last,  upon  Jesus,  as  the  only  Saviour  and  sacrifice  for  our  sins. 
Look  at  anything  beyond  or  above  him,  and  you  will  miss  the 
true  ground  of  trust,  and  fail  to  taste  the  joy  of  the  Lord, 
that  is  the  strength  of  his  people.  But  look  simply  to  him, 
rest  wholly  upon  him,  seek  to  repose  greater  confidence  on 
God's  precious  truth,  and  trust  in  his  word,  and  the  result  of 
such  simple,  childlike  faith  will  be,  in  your  case,  what  it  was 
in  that  of  the  jailer  of  Philippi.  It  is  said  that  he  came 
20 


230  THE    BLESSED    1M0T1IEH. 

to  the  apostles  a  depraved  criminal,  and  in  the  sincerity  of 
his  heart  asked,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  They  an- 
swered, in  the  simplicity  of  their  f\iith,  "  Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  He  believed,  and,  it 
is  added,  he  was  baptized,  "  and  he  rejoiced,  believing  in  God 
with  all  his  house."  Thus  simple  belief  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  true  secret  of  joy. 

And,  lastly,  seek  the  presence  and  possession  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  author  of  joy.  "  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love, 
ioy,  peace."  And  wherever  that  blessed  Spirit  dwells,  there 
will  not  only  be  love  and  peace,  but  also  joy.  Honor  the 
Spirit  by  seeking  his  presence,  and  he  will  answer  you  by 
making  you  joyful  in  the  possession  of  it.  Lean  on  Jesus 
wholly  for  the  pardon  of  sin ;  seek  the  presence  and  peace 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  source  and  fountain  of  it. 

This  joy  is  defined  very  beautifully  by  our  Lord,  when  he 
speaks  of  his  joy  being  theirs,  that  "their  joy  might  be  full," 
and  that  "his  joy  might  abide  in  them."  —  "These  things 
have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  my  joy  might  remain  in  you, 
and  that  your  joy  may  be  full."  Now,  what  was  Christ's 
joy  ?  Not  the  joy  of  the  world,  but  of  seeing  souls  saved  ; 
"  he,  for  the  joy  set  before  him,  endured  the  cross."  Jesus 
rejoiced  in  spirit  on  one  occasion,  and  that  arose  from  the 
triumphs  of  his  cause,  the  reception  of  the  faith,  the  con- 
version of  souls.  And  the  prophecy  says,  "  He  shall  see  of 
the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall  be  satisfied." 

When  we  partake  of  this  joy,  it  does  not  taste  or  last  like 
the  joy  of  the  world.  The  joys  of  the  world,  like  gathered 
flowers,  begin  to  fade  the  instant  they  are  possessed ;  but  the 
joy  of  the  Christian  is  amaranthine.  Around  it  is  the  air  of 
everlasting  spring;  it  grows  more  beautiful  and  fragrant 
with  the  lapse  of  years,  survives  the  winters  of  the  world, 
and  reaches  its  culminating  beauty  when  the  things  of  sight 
and  sense  are  fading  from  our  presence.     Hence,  a  Christian 


THE    BLESSED    MOIIIER.  231 

can  say,  "  Although  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blossom,  neither 
shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines;  though  the  labor  of  the  olive  shall 
fail,  and  the  fields  shall  yield  no  meat ;  though  the  flocks 
shall  be  cut  off"  from  the  fold,  and  there  shall  be  no  herd  in 
the  stalls,  yet  will  I  rejoice  in  the  Lord.  I  will  joy  in  the 
God  of  ray  salvation." 

A  Christian  may  go  out  with  joy  ;  he  may  be  led  forth 
with  peace.  A  Christian's  faith  has  no  sympathy  with  the 
religion  of  the  monk ;  it  has  no  lot  or  part  in  the  despairing 
religion  of  the  suicide.  He  does  not  leave  the  world  because 
of  its  sins,  expecting  to  escape  them  when  he  cannot  escape 
from  himself;  and  he  will  not  leave  the  world  because  of  its 
trials,  its  misfortunes,  and  its  sufferings.  His  joy  has  nothing 
in  it  cloistral,  nothino;  monkish,  nothing;  suicidal ;  it  is  the 
joy  of  the  Lord,  giving  him  the  victory  over  trials,  strength 
in  the  day  of  trouble,  and  making  him  happy  where  all 
around  him  is  blighted  and  desolate.  The  graves  of  the 
dead,  to  a  Christian,  are  ever  covered  with  the  sweetest 
flowers ;  the  dust  of  them  that  are  asleep  in  Jesus,  so  dear  to 
him,  he  expects  to  meet  again  in  the  realms  of  glory  ;  and 
when  heart  and  flesh  shall  faint  and  fail,  he  knows  that  God 
is  the  strength  of  his  heart,  and  his  portion  forever.  He 
dies  neither  sad,  nor  sorrowful,  nor  desponding ;  he  lives 
and  dies  as  Mary  worshipped,  saying,  "  My  soul  doth 
magnify  the  Lord,  and  my  spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God  my 
Saviour." 


CHAPTER    XVIIl. 

THE    ONLY    ABSOLUTION. 

"  Let  me  gaze,  then,  at  thy  glory  ; 

Change  to  flesh  this  heart  of  stone  ; 
Let  the  light  illume  my  darkness 

That  around  the  apostle  shone. 
Cold  belief  is  not  conviction, 

Rules  are  impotent  to  move  ; 
Let  me  see  thy  heavenly  beauty, 

Let  me  learn  to  trust  and  love." 

"  And  he  said  unto  her.  Thy  sins  are  forgiven.  And  they  that  sat  at 
meat  with  him  began  to  say  within  themselves.  Who  is  this  that  forgiv- 
eth  sins  also  1  And  he  said  to  the  woman.  Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee  ; 
go  in  peace,"  —  Luke  7  :  48 — 50. 

A  WOMAN  who  was  known  to  be  a  sinful  one  appeared  in 
the  house  of  Simon  the  Pharisee,  and  showed  that  hospitality 
which  his  host,  who  prided  himself  on  his  precision  and  his 
perfect  character,  had  failed  or  forgotten  to  show,  to  his 
great  and  holy  guest,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  When  Simon 
thought  within  himself,  —  not  venturing  to  express  the 
thoughts  that  were  within  his  bosom,  —  "  This  man,  if  ho 
were  a  prophet,  would  have  known  who  and  what  manner  of 
woman  this  is  that  toucheth  him  ;  for  she  is  a  sinner ;  " 
Jesus,  the  searcher  of  hearts,  seeing  the  thoughts  that  were 
revolving  in  the  Pharisee's  soul,  instantly  addressed  him, 
"  Simon,  I  have  somewhat  to  say  unto  thee."  And  then  he 
showed,  by  a  beautiful  incident,  which  drew  from  the  Pharisee 
the  confession  that  he  who  is  forgiven  most  would  naturally 


THE    ONLY   ABSOLUTION.  233 

.eve  most,  the  true  order  of  forgiveness  and  love.  This 
woman  had  been  forgiven  much,  and  the  reason  of  her 
evidencing  such  enthusiastic  love  was  her  deep  sense  of  for- 
giveness through  her  acceptance  of  her  blessed  Lord  and 
Master,  Christ  Jesus. 

Ail  the  incidents  recorded  here  seem  to  have  been  subse- 
quent, not  prior,  to  the  forgiveness  of  her  sins.  It  was 
because  she  was  forgiven  before  that  she  loved  much,  and  it 
was  because  she  loved  much  that  she  so  sacrificed  the  best 
that  she  had,  in  order  to  express  the  reality  and  the  depth  of 
that  love  to  him  who,  in  her  heart,  became  daily  more  and 
more  the  chief  among  ten  thousand  and  altogether  lovely. 
Her  conduct  was  the  fruit  of  forgiveness,  not  the  purchase  of 
it ;  every  trait  that  she  exhibited  was  not  something  done 
in  order  that  she  might  be  forgiven,  but  something  done  just 
because  she  knew  she  had  been  forgiven  much,  and  could  not 
help,  therefore,  loving  much. 

He  said,  "  Her  sins,  which  are  many,  are  forgiven  ;  there- 
fore,^'—  as  it  ought  to  be  rendered,  —  "  therefore  she  loved 
much."  After  this,  he  said  to  her,  "  Thy  sins  are  forgiven 
thee ;  "  and  at  the  close  of  the  chapter,  "  Thy  faith  hath  saved 
thee ;  go  in  peace."  Now,  what  was  meant  by  pronouncing 
absolution  after  the  admission  that  she  was  already  absolved? 
The  answer  seems  to  lie  in  this,  that  at  first  she  b  elieved  on 
him  for  forgiveness,  and,  therefore,  she  obtained  it ;  after- 
wards Jesus  gave  her,  in  addition  to  forgiveness,  the  sweet 
sense,  the  blessed  assurance,  that  she  was  forgiven.  But,  is 
it  possible  for  one  to  be  forgiven,  and  not  to  be  assured  of 
it  ?  Many  a  Christian  passes  through  life  trusting  in  Christ 
for  forgiveness  of  sins,  justified  in  the  courts  of  heaven,  and 
yet  no  sweet  echo  of  the  sentence  pronounced  above  rings  in 
the  often  lonely,  and  sad,  and  sorrowful  chambers  of  the  heart. 
Many  a  one  is  a  Christian  who  is  not  sure  that  he  really  and 
truly  is  so.  It  is  one  thing  to  be  forgiven  ;  it  is  another 
20^ 


234  THE    ONLY    ABSOLUTION. 

thing  to  know  assuredly  that  we  are  forgiven.  The  one  is  a 
fact,  which  is  our  salvation  in  heaven  ;  the  second  is  the 
knowledge  of  that  fact,  which  is  our  happiness  upon  earth. 
The  one  —  faith  in  Christ  for  forgiveness — is  safety;  the 
other  —  the  assurance  that  we  are  forgiven  —  is  joy  addi-. 
tional  to  that  safety.  True  faith  is  twilight,  the  assurance 
of  faith  is  sunshine.  A  v/oman  who  is  a  wife  is  married, 
though  the  ring  may  drop  from  her  finger ;  the  ring  is  not 
the  cement  of  her  marriage,  but  it  is  the  evidence,  the  assur- 
ance, and  the  proof  to  the  outward  eye,  that  she  is  married. 
Assurance  is  not  the  essence  of  faith,  but  it  is  to  the  believer 
the  positive  and  sensible  enjoyment  of  the  blessedness  of  him 
whose  sins  are  forgiven ;  the  visible,  or,  rather,  the  felt  wit- 
ness of  the  Spirit  in  the  court  of  the  conscience  within,  that 
our  sins  are  blotted  out,  and  our  iniquities  pardoned  in  the 
court  of  heaven  that  is  above.  Jesus  recognized  the  woman 
as  a  forgiven  sinner,  and,  therefore,  acting  as  became  one; 
and  he  adds  to  the  fact  that  she  was  forgiven  the  blessed 
assurance  from  his  own  lips  that  it  was  so ;  so  that  she  might 
go  away,  not  only  trusting  for  forgiveness,  but  assured  that 
she  actually  had  it. 

The  Lord  makes  one  grace  the  pledge  and  the  pioneer  of 
another.  He  granted  her,  first,  forgiveness ;  he  granted  her, 
next,  the  assurance  of  it.  He  not  only  pardoned  her  sins, — 
which  was  very  great  mercy,  —  but  he  ga^^  her  all  the  joys 
that  spring  from  the  assurance  of  that  pardon.  None  who 
live  in  the  light  that  they  have,  up  to  its  full  extent,  will  be 
left  without  more  light ;  "  he  that  hath  to  him  shall  be 
given."  I  do  not  believe  that  God  ever  leaves  any  one  who 
acts  up  to  the  light  that  he  has,  and  the  responsibility  that 
he  feels,  without  giving  that  person  more  light,  and  more 
strength.  I  do  not  believe  that  God  will  ever  leave  a  truly 
sincere  and  honest  inquirer  to  perish  everlastingly.  Not  that 
one  will  be  saved  because  he  is  sincere ;  but  that  God  will 


THE   ONLY   ABSOLUTION.  J.0O 

not  leave  the  sincere  inquirer  without  giving  him  the  light 
he  gropes  for,  and  showing  him  that  Saviour  who  alone  can 
meet  the  necessities  of  his  heart,  and  minister  to  the  hopes 
and  expectances  of  his  soul. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  Jesus  here  identifies  pardon  of 
sin  with  salvation.  In  one  clause,  he  says,  "  Thy  sins  are 
forgiven  thee ;  "  in  the  other  clause,  "  Thy  faith  hath  saved 
thee."  Thus  the  pardon  of  our  sins  is  the  essential  prelimi- 
nary to  the  salvation  of  our  souls.  There  can  be  no  salva- 
tion except  there  be  forgiveness ;  and  there  can  be  no  forgive- 
ness except  in  one  way,  —  a  way  that  shall  reflect  glory  on 
the  sin-forgiver,  judgment  on  the  sin-forgiven,  and  yet  mercy 
on  him  who  has  been  guilty,  and  to  whom  it  is  forgiven.  But 
the  one  —  forgiveness  of  sin  —  is  the  necessary  preliminary 
to  the  other, — the  salvation  of  the  soul.  Jesus  is  not  only 
the  author,  but  the  finisher,  of  our  faith.  I  cannot  believe 
that  a  true  Christian,  really  transformed  by  the  renewing  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  will  ever  fall  away.  But  will  not  this 
make  men  presume  ?  It  cannot  make  a  Christian  presume ; 
and  another  man  has  no  right  to  presume  at  all,  because  ho 
has  no  grace  to  fall  from ;  —  for  a  sinner,  unrenewed,  to  sup- 
pose that  he  is  safe,  because  Christians,  who  are  regenerate, 
are  so,  is  the  most  illogical  and  absurd  reasoning  that  one 
can  possibly  imagine.  A  Christian,  whose  heart  has  been 
changed,  does  not  allow  himself  a  license  to  sin,  because  the 
same  mighty  Spirit  that  brings  to  him  the  pardon  of  his  sins 
imparts  to  his  heart  the  hatred  of  the  sins  which  are  forgiven. 
To  a  Christian  it  becomes  natural  and  instinctive  to  do  what- 
soever things  are  just,  and  pure,  and  lovely,  and  of  good 
report.  He  has  the  assurance  of  his  progression,  and  the 
certainty  of  his  never  falling  off;  and,  therefore,  he  is  the 
more  diligent  and  abundant  in  every  good  work.  The 
worldly  reasoning  is.  It  is  God  that  worketh  in  you ;  there- 
fore do  nothing  at  all.     The  Scripture  reasoning  is,  "  Work 


236  THE   ONLY    ABSOLUTION. 

out  your  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling ;  for  it  is  God 
that  worketh  in  you  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure." 
The  apostle  does  not  say,  when  quoting  Christ's  word,  "  My 
grace  is  a  substitute  for  thee ;  "  but  he  says,  what  is  far 
better,  because  true,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee."  It . 
does  not  take  your  place,  do  your  duty,  that  you  may  sit 
down  in  indolence,  and  hope  you  will  be  snatched  to  heaven 
in  spite  of  what  you  feel,  and  in  the  face  of  what  you  love, 
and  notwithstanding  what  you  do ;  but  it  becomes  sufficient 
for  you  in  leading  you  to  deny  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts, 
and  to  live  soberly,  and  righteously,  and  godly,  in  this  present 
world.  "  Whom  God  called,  them  he  also  justified ;  and 
whom  he  justified,  them  he  also  glorified."  Thus  the  pardon 
of  sin  and  the  salvation  of  the  soul  —  the  one  the  commence- 
ment or  the  preface  to  the  other  —  are  identified  in  these 
words  of  our  blessed  Lord. 

Salvation  is  here  spoken  of  as  a  present  possession.  He 
says  to  her,  "  Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee:  go  in  peace."  In 
God's  holy  word,  salvation  is  rarely  spoken  of  as  a  thing  that 
is  to  be,  but  frequently  as  a  thing  that  already  is.  "  He  that 
believeth  on  the  Son  "  —  not  shall  have,  but  ^' hath  everlast- 
ing life."  Then,  you  ask,  what  is  heaven  ?  The  future  is 
the  flower,  the  perfection  and  the  glory,  of  the  present ;  the 
salvation  that  begins  in  time  culminates  in  eternity.  That 
which  is  first  the  private  experience  of  the  heart  becomes  the 
full  and  magnificent  enjoyment  of  the  whole  man.  Salvation 
is  a  state  of  safety  through  the  blood  of  the  cross,  and  a 
course  of  progressive  approximation  to  God  by  the  inspira- 
tion and  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He,  therefore,  who  is 
truly  born  again,  is  not  saved  as  much  in  degree,  but  he  is 
saved  as  much  in  fact,  as  if  he  were  within  the  precincts  of 
heaven,  and  in  the  presence  of  God  and  the  Lamb.  In  this 
world  joy  enters  into  us,  a  tiny  rivulet ;  in  that  better  world 
we  shall  enter  into  joy,  a  majestic  and  illimitable   ocean. 


THE   ONLY   ABSOLUTION.  237 

The  salvation  that  begins  in  time,  a  small  and  glimmerino^ 
spark,  expands  in  eternity  into  all  the  brightness  of  everlast- 
ing noon ;  the  believer's  course,  like  the  shining  light,  is  first 
the  gray  dawn,  then  the  opening  morn,  then  the  shining  more 
and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

Jesus  said  to  the  woman,  "  Thj  faith  hath  saved  thee,"  — 
not,  baptism  hath  saved  thee ;  not,  an  outer  ecclesiastical 
work  of  Tiny  sort  hath  saved  thee;  but  an  inner  grace,  laying 
hold  upon  something  done  for  her,  not  something  done  by  her, 
was  the  instrument,  or  the  medium,  of  her  salvation.  Very  often 
faith  is  referred  to  as  the  great  and  distinctive  grace  that  saves. 
We  are  not  saved  by  faith,  however,  in  the  sense  that  it  takes 
the  place  of  works.  The  ancient  prescription  was,  "Do  this 
and  live,"  live  on  the  ground  that  you  have  done  this.  The 
modern  prescription,  "  Believe,  and  live,"  is  not  parallel, 
word  for  word,  as  if  we  were  saved  on  the  ground  of  our 
believing.  If  that  were  so,  then  correctness  of  life  would 
have  been  salvation  under  the  law,  and  accuracy  of  creed 
would  be  salvation  under  the  Gospel.  But  there  is  no  more 
virtue  in  a  clear  head  than  there  is  in  a  righteous  hand  ;  there 
is  no  more  virtue  in  believing  perfectly  than  there  is  in  try- 
ing now  to  do  correctly.  AVe  are  saved  now,  not  by  our  fltith 
as  the  ground  of  our  pardon,  but  by  what  faith  grasps  —  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  the  alone  efficacious  ground  of  our 
forgiveness  and  acceptance  before  God.  Hence  the  distinc- 
tion has  been  well  made,  we  are  saved  by  works  declaratively, 
—  that  is,  we  prove  that  we  are  saved  by  what  we  do ;  we  are 
saved  by  faith  instrumentally,  —  that  is,  faith  is  the  hand,  the 
instrument,  that  lays  hold  upon  something  else  ;  we  are  saved 
by  Christ's  righteousness  meritoriously,  —  that  is,  his  right- 
eousness, seized  by  faith,  illustrated  and  henceforth  unfolded 
in  the  life,  is  the  alone  meritorious  ground  and  foundation  of 
our  acceptance  before  God,  and  our  entrance  into  glory. 
Why  has  faith  ascribed  to  it  this  great  distinction  ?     There 


238  THE   ONLY    ABSOLUTION. 

are  reasons  for  it  very  obvious,  on  the  very  face  of  it.  In 
the  case  of  this  woman,  she  had  shown  much  devoted  love 
and  affection  to  the  Lord.  She  had  displayed  great  gener- 
osity in  pouring  out  her  precious  perfume  upon  his  feet ;  and 
equally  great  devotedness  in  clinging  to  him,  notwithstanding 
apparent  rebukes  that  might  have  made  her  retire ;  she 
exhibited  true  repentance  in  that  she  wept  whilst  she  washed 
his  feet ;  and  the  greatest  humility  in  that  she  wiped  his  feet 
with  the  hairs  of  her  head.  But  when  Jesus  specifies  what 
saved  her,  he  does  not  say.  Thy  generosity  hath  saved  thee, 
thy  love  hath  saved  thee,  thy  repentance  or  thy  humility  hath 
saved  thee ;  but  he  puts  all  these  in  the  background,  and 
says,  "  Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee."  Now,  why  does  faith  take 
precedence  of  every  other  grace  ?  Because  every  true  grace 
that  a  Christian  has  brings  something.  Love  brings  a  glow- 
ing heart;  liberality,  a  large  and  open  hand;  humility  brings 
a  bowed  knee ;  repentance,  a  broken  heart.  All  these  are 
most  precious,  most  beautiful ;  but  each  brings  something, 
and  each  might  go  away  with  the  feeling  that  it  contributed 
to  purchase  what  it  gets  in  return.  But  faith  brings  neither 
the  loving  heart,  nor  the  open  hand,  nor  the  bowed  knee,  nor 
the  broken  heart ;  but  an  empty  hand,  an  empty  heart,  and 
with  its  emptiness  a  deep  and  poignant  sense  that  it  is  so. 
It  brings  nothing,  it  seeks  all ;  and  it  seeks  all  because  it 
deserves  nothing ;  full  pardon  and  free  forgiveness  from  him 
who  knows  its  anxious,  its  earnest,  and  its  prayerful  approach. 
And  this  faith  is  the  mother-grace,  and  all  the  rest  follow  in 
her  train,  never  precede  her  or  become  substitutes  for  her. 
Faith  thus  comes,  owning  she  is  blind,  and  naked,  and  miser- 
able, and  destitute  of  all,  and  puts  the  crown  on  the  head  of 
him  in  whom  all  fulness  lies ;  and  asks  the  pardon  that  she 
needs,  the  sanctification  that  will  make  her  beautiful,  the 
peace  that  will  give  her  joy,  wholly  from  grace,  and  not  as  a 
recompense  or  a  reward  for  anything  she  has  brought,  or  any- 


TUE    ONLY    ABSOLUTIO!^.  239 

tiling  she  can  promise  to  bring.  Thus,  Jesus  says  to  her, 
"  Thy  faith  "  —  as  an  instrument,  and  only  as  an  instrument, 
even  when  the  choicest  and  the  leading  grace  —  "  hath  saved 
thee." 

We  see  here  the  personality  of  salvation :  "  thy  faith  hath 
saved  thee,"  Not  another's  faith,  not  a  sponsor's  vow  or 
obligations,  but  "  thy  faith  hath  saved  thee."  Salvation, 
from  first  to  last,  is  a  personal  or  individual  transaction.  It 
is  transacted,  not  upon  the  floor  of  the  sanctuary  without,  but 
in  the  chancel  of  the  heart  within.  It  is  between  God  and 
the  believer  first ;  and  then  it  goes  forth  to  freshen  the  world's 
bleak  places  with  the  expressions  of  its  beneficence,  feeling 
that  all  it  can  do  is  not  too  great  to  express  the  gratitude 
and  the  obligation  that  it  owes  to  him  who  looked  upon  it  in 
its  low  and  lost  estate,  and  has  redeemed  its  subject  with 
precious  blood,  and  made  him  a  king  and  a  priest  unto  God. 
It  is  faith,  the  instrument,  that  lays  hold  of  Christ  the 
Saviour  ;  but  thy  fliith,  not  another's. 

After  our  Lord  had  given  her  this  blessed  and  comforting 
assurance,  he  adds,  ''  Go  in  peace  !  "  Is  it  straining  it  too 
much  to  say  that  here  is  evidence  that  the  blessed  life  is  not 
a  sequestered  and  secluded  life,  led  apart  from  the  rest  of 
mankind,  in  the  cell  of  the  monk  or  the  anchorite,  but  a  life 
of  activity,  of  energy,  of  efibrt  ?  No  man  can  be  a  Christian 
one  day  without  instantly  feeling  in  his  soul  weighty  respons- 
ibilities, and  becoming  a  missionary  also.  He  that  feels  he 
is  forgiven  yearns  to  go  and  tell  those  that  need  forgiveness 
how  they  may  be  forgiven  also.  Ye  are  salt,  the  earth  must 
not  be  deprived  of  its  savor ;  ye  are  lights,  ye  are  cities  set 
upon  a  hill ;  you  must  not  be  hid,  you  must  be  luminous. 
Like  the  demoniac,  you  must  not  sit  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  after 
being  clothed  and  in  your  right  mind ;  but  go  and  tell  those 
in  your  home  what  things  the  Lord  hath  done  for  you.  So 
the  very  assurance  that  he  gives  to  this  woman,  having  im- 


240  THE    ONLY    ABSOLUTION. 

parted  so  muck  joy  to  her  heart,  contahis  a  hint  that  it  was 
not  a  substitute  for,  or  to  supersede  active  and  personal  ser- 
vice in  his  cause;  but  rather  to  be  a  new  and  inexhaustible 
impulse  to  go  and  serve,  with  all  her  heart,  him  who  had 
saved  her  soul.  The  expression  "  Go,"  too,  would  seem  to 
denote  progress:  "  Go  in  peace."  There  is  action  that  is  not 
progress ;  there  is  excitement  that  is  not  health :  a  person 
who  is  in  a  fever  has  far  more  excitement  in  his  frame  than 
he  whose  pulse  beats  with  the  steadfast  march  of  life ;  and 
so  there  may  be  very  great  action  where  there  may  be  no  real 
advancement.  But  in  the  case  of  a  true  Christian,  if  there 
be  grace,  if  there  be  forgiveness  of  sin,  —  if  there  be  the  sweet 
and  blessed  sense  that  it  is  so,  —  there  will  be  progress  from 
strength  to  strength,  from  grace  to  grace.  An  unconverted 
man,  trying  to  get  to  heaven  by  what  he  can  do,  is  very  much 
like  a  culprit  upon  the  treadmill :  he  is  constantly  stepping, 
ever  toiling,  but  never  making  progress.  A  Christian,  whose 
bonds  have  been  loosed,  whose  heart  has  been  changed,  on 
whose  soul  there  has  been  shed  abroad  the  sweet  sense  of 
forgiveness,  is  on  the  high  and  happy  way  that  leads  to 
heaven ;  he  goes  from  strength  to  strength,  until  at  last  he 
arrives  before  God  in  Zion.  Be  not  weary  in  well  doing ; 
redeem  the  time.  "Go  in  peace;"  in  peace  with  God. 
What  an  atmosphere  is  that !  No  more  suspicions  of  his 
mercy,  no  more  doubts  of  his  faithfulness  and  his  love, 
no  more  misconstruction  of  his  dispensations  and  his  deal- 
ings. You  are  his  son,  and  therefore  his  servant;  the  very 
deep  conviction  that  you  are  his  son  making  more  intense 
the  efi^ciency  of  your  services  rendered  to  him  ;  after 
receiving  so  much  from  him,  you  unfold  what  you  receive  in 
obedience  to  him.  The  right  way  of  thinking  of  God  is  not 
to  hear  him  always  saying,  "Do;"  but  to  feel  God  always 
giving,  and  never  asking  or  commanding.  If  you  look  upon 
God  as  a  God  always  exacting  duties,  you  will  render,  or  try 


THE   ONLY   ABSOLUTION.  241 

to  render  them  as  a  slave  his  duties  to  a  tyrant  master ;  but, 
if  jou  will  only  think  of  God  as  never  exacting  anything,  but 
always  giving  everything,  —  from  a  crumb  of  bread  to  Christ, 
the  brightness  of  his  glory,  —  and  leaving  the  impression  made 
by  his  gifts  to  dictate  the  duties,  the  obligations  and  the 
sacrifices,  that  devolve  upon  you,  you  will  find  that  ceasing  to 
hear,  as  a  slave,  a  master  exacting,  and  beginning,  as  a  son,  to 
feel  a  fiither  continually  giving,  you  will  think  no  sacrifice 
too  great,  no  service  too  warm. 

In  peace  with  conscience.  The  most  stern  battles  have 
been  fought  in  individual  hearts.  The  toil,  the  agony,  the 
thought,  expended  in  keeping  conscience  quiet,  need  not  be 
expended  in  keeping  still  a  menagerie  of  wild  and  savage 
beasts ;  and  as  long  as  a  man  has  a  conscience,  and  he  knows 
not  where  to  find  that  which  can  give  him  peace,  he  must 
either  take  an  opiate  to  stupefy  him, —  that  is,  have  recourse 
to  a  poisonous  drug  to  keep  it  quiet,  —  or  he  must  do  what  the 
worldling  does,  take  a  deeper  plunge  into  the  world's  folly, 
gayety  and  dissipation,  in  order  to  keep  himself  insulated 
from  himself.  The  true  explanation  of  much  of  this  world's 
frivolity  and  dissipation,  —  of  the  theatre  and  the  opera,  in 
the  case  of  thousands  that  frequent  them,  —  is  that  of  persons 
trying  to  escape  from  themselves,  to  get  an  evening's  seques- 
tration from  a  conscience  that  tells  them  something  is  wrong, 
or  from  a  heart  that  feels  as  if  it  were  not  what  it  should  be ; 
and  because  they  are  contented  with  an  ignorance  that  leaves 
them  in  unmolested  insensibility  to  the  way,  the  truth  and 
the  life.  But,  when  your  sins  are  pardoned,  when  your  faith 
has  saved  you,  when  you  go  in  peace  through  the  blood  of 
Christ  and  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  you 
are  at  peace  with  your  own  conscience,  your  inclinations  and 
your  duties  run  parallel.  God's  precepts  and  your  prefer- 
ences roll  in  one  channel ;  and  you  know  how  easy  the  hard- 
est duty  becomes  when  you  have  been  taught  to  love  it,  and 
21 


242  THE   ONLY   ABSOLUTION. 

to  see  it  is  beautiful,  and  right,  and  true  in  the  sight  of  him 
who  has  blessed  you  with  everlasting  life,  and  pronounced  in 
the  depths  of  your  soul  his  own  divine  absolution  :  "  Thy  faith 
hath  saved  thee ;  go  in  peace." 

You  go  in  peace  with  all  true  Christians.  Wherever  a 
Christian  is,  there  is  a  brother;  wherever  a  Christian  woman 
is,  there  is  a  sister.  You  can  forgive  the  Episcopacy  of  one, 
you  can  forget  the  Presbyterianism  of  a  second,  you  can 
pardon  the  Congregationalism  of  a  third,  you  can  pass  over 
the  Immersion  of  a  fourth ;  you  can  see,  in  spite  of  all  these, 
and  through  the  folds  of  all  these,  incapable  of  being  con- 
cealed, grace  that  has  renewed  the  heart,  and  changed  the 
heirs  of  wrath  into  the  heirs  of  Christ  Jesus. 

At  love  and  peace  with  God,  at  peace  with  all  true  Chris- 
tians, you  will  receive,  at  the  hour  that  comes  to  you  and 
must  come  to  all,  the  full  fruition  of  that  peace,  in  the  blessed, 
heartfelt  assurance  that  there  is  no  condemnation  to  them 
that  are  in  Christ  Jesus;  and  you  will  respond  to  the  sum- 
mons that  calls  you  to  your  Father's  home,  not  with  a  heavy, 
but  a  joyous  utterance  :  "  Now,  Lord,  lettest  thou  thy  servant 
depart  in  peace ;  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation." 
Mj  faith  hath  saved  me ;  I  now  come  in  peace. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE   WAY   OF   THE   BLESSED   LIFE. 

"  Ah  !  if  our  souls  but  poise  and  swing, 
Like  the  compass  in  its  brazen  ring. 
Ever  level  and  ever  true. 
To  the  toil  and  the  task  we  have  to  do. 
We  shall  sail  securely,  and  safely  reach 
The  Fortunate  Isles,  on  whose  shining  beach 
The  sights  we  sec,  and  the  sounds  we  hear. 
Will  be  those  of  joy  and  not  of  fear." 

*'  But  seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  righteousness  ;  and 
all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you."  —  Matthew  6  :  33. 

Jesus  tells  liis  owii  not  to  take  thought  about  the  morrow, 
or  about  the  things  of  this  world,  "  for  after  all  these  things 
do  the  heathen  seek ;  "  and,  in  opposition  to  them,  to  seek, 
not  what  they  seek,  but  first  of  all  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
the  righteousness  that  is  its  distinguishing  ornament,  substance, 
and  characteristic ;  and  the  things  which  the  Gentiles  seek, 
unsought  by  you,  will  by  God  be  abundantly  given  you. 

"  Take  no  thought "  does  not  mean,  Never  think  upon  the 
subject  at  all,  but.  Take  no  irritating,  perplexing,  vexing 
thought.  The  Greek  word  is  jneQifzva,  which  means  "  per- 
plexing, agitating,  harassing  thought."  He  does  not  bid  you 
shut  your  eyes  to  to-morrow,  and  make  no  arrangement  to-day 
for  to-morrow's  advent ;  but  he  bids  you  contemplate  to-day 
and  to-morrow,  a  stranger  to  those  irritating  and  harassing 
cares  which  interfere  with  the  duties  of  to-day,  and  darken 


244  THE   WAY   OF   THE   BLESSED   LIFE. 

all  the  prospects  of  to-morrow.  He  says,  your  policy,  your 
compass,  your  chart,  your  course,  are  all  comprehended  in 
one  grand  prescription,  which  never  fails,  and  is  ever  appli- 
cable, "  Seek  first,  chiefest,  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  right- 
eousness, and  then  all  these  subordinate  things  will  be  added 
unto  you  ;  "  for,  "  if  God  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  gave 
him  up  to  death  for  us  all,  giving  us  so  grand  a  thing,  will  he 
not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all  those  things  which  are 
needful  and  expedient  for  us  ? " 

Man  has  been  found  in  every  age,  —  Christian,  heathen, 
Mahometan,  and  Jewish,  —  a  murmuring  and  repining  subject 
of  God's  government.  There  are  things  in  the  present  that 
he  fancies  to  be  evil ;  there  are  things  in  the  perspective  of 
to-morrow  that  he  fears  will  be  evil ;  and,  between  the  evils 
that  he  feels  and  the  evils  that  he  fears  or  fancies,  he  is  often 
miserable,  depressed,  and  cast  down.  Christ's  prescription  is, 
Do  not  heap  to-morrow's  evils,  if  there  shall  be  any,  for  they 
are  not  yet  come,  upon  to-day's  duties ;  but  discharge  man- 
fully and  fully  the  duties  of  to-day,  and  wait  till  to-morrow 
for  to-morrow's  duties.  You  have  strength  for  each  day's 
duties,  but  you  are  neither  promised  nor  are  you  possessed  of 
strength  for  the  duties  of  to-day,  which  are  obligatory,  and 
for  contingent  duties  and  trials,  which  are  for  to-morrow,  and 
which  may  not  come  at  all.  Sufficient  for  the  day  is  its  trial 
or  its  trouble ;  meet  it  like  Christians ;  and  when  to-morrow 
comes,  then  in  to-morrow's  strength  you  will  be  ready  for  to- 
morrow's duties. 

The  fact  is,  after  all,  that  none  of  those  things  that  man 
fears  in  the  present,  or  fancies  in  the  future,  are  in  themselves 
productive  of  evil.  Labor  is  not  an  evil  in  its  practical  efifects ; 
for  human  life  would  be  wretched  without  it.  Poverty  is  not 
an  evil  in  its  actual  effect ;  for  it  weans  from  the  world,  and 
makes  one  think  of  a  better,  a  holier,  and  a  happier  one. 
Sickness  is  not,  in  its  practical  effect,  an  evil ;  for  it  teaches 


THE   WAY   OF   THE   BLESSED   LIFE.  245 

man  that  this  is  not  our  home ;  and  it  makes  him  look  up  and 
seek  for  that  better  rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God. 
A  bereavement  is  not  always  an  evil,  if  thej  you  are  bereaved 
of  be  numbered  with  Christ's  saints  in  glory  everlasting.  And, 
therefore,  those  troubles  that  we  feel  to  be  so,  when  sanctified, 
are  real  blessings ;  and  those  troubles  which  we  fear  and  dread 
in  the  future  may  never  happen ;  or,  if  they  do,  as  our  day's 
evil  is,  our  strength  will  be ;  and  the  issue  will  be  to-morrow 
what  the  issue  of  the  same  trial  has  been  to-day,  glory  to  God, 
and  good  to  them  that  are  exercised  thereby. 

The  text  substantially  is,  therefore.  Mind  the  main  thing, 
and  subordinate  things  will  come  as  a  matter  of  course.  Seek 
my  glory,  and  I  will  take  care  of  your  good.  You  put  your- 
selves in  conformity  to  my  holy  law,  and  I  will  take  care  that 
you  shall  not  suffer  more  than  is  good,  or  more  than  can  be 
sanctified  for  and  to  you.  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  his  righteousness ;  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you." 

I  know  not  a  more  striking  illustration  of  the  idea  in  the 
text  than  the  heroic  conduct  recorded  of  the  three  Hebrew 
youths  in  the  book  of  Daniel,  when  the  Babylonian  despot, 
"  in  his  rage  and  fury,  commanded  to  bring  Shadrach,  Me- 
shach,  and  Abednego.  Then  they  brought  these  men  before 
the  king.  Nebuchadnezzar  spake  and  said  unto  them.  Is  it 
true,  0  Shadrach,  Meshach  and  Abednego,  do  not  ye  serve 
my  gods,  nor  worship  the  golden  image  which  I  have  set  up  ? 
Now,  if  ye  be  ready  that  at  what  time  ye  hear  the  sound  of 
the  cornet,  flute,  harp,  sackbut,  psaltery  and  dulcimer,  and 
all  kinds  of  music,  ye  fall  down  and  worship  the  image  which 
I  have  made,  well :  but,  if  ye  worship  not,  ye  shall  be  cast, 
the  same  hour,  into  the  midst  of  a  burning  fiery  furnace ;  and 
who  is  that  God  that  shall  deliver  you  out  of  my  hands  ?  " 
The  three  Hebrew  youths  replied  in  terms  that  showed  that 
ihey  sought  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness ; 
21# 


246  THE    WAY   Of   THE   BLESSED   LIFE. 

and  were  quite  satisfied  that  all  other  things  would  be  added. 
"  Shadrach,  Meshach  and  Abednego,  answered  and  said  to  the 
king,  0  Nebuchadnezzar,  we  are  not  careful  to  answer  thee 
in  this  matter ;  "  that  is,  we  have  no  carking,  harassing,  or 
irritating  thoughts  about  answering  you  in  this  matter.  "If 
it  be  so,  our  God  whom  we  serve  is  able  to  deliver  us  from 
the  burning  fiery  furnace,  and  he  will  deliver  us  out  of  thine 
hand,  0  king.  But,  if  not,  be  it  known  unto  thee,  0  king, 
that  we  will  not  serve  thy  gods,  nor  worship  the  golden  image 
which  thou  hast  set  up."  Here  we  have,  in  the  actual  life 
of  these  three  Hebrew  youths,  an  experimental  and  personal 
comment  upon  the  text,  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
his  righteousness  J  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto 
you." 

How  sad  it  is  to  observe  that  man  usually,  in  his  daily 
life,  reverses  this  !  He  seeks  at  best  to  be  rich  toward  man 
first,  rich  toward  God  next.  He  says,  Let  me  enjoy  and  earn 
the  world  now;  and  then  I  will  calculate  upon  getting  a  twi- 
light at  the  close  of  life,  in  which  I  can  think  about  my  soul, 
and  seek  the  kingdom  of  God.  Let  my  heart  fill  itself  with 
all  the  pleasures,  the  enjoyments,  the  profits,  and  the  honors, 
of  the  life  that  now  is ;  and,  when  I  am  satisfied,  and  able  to 
retire,  and  leave  the  din,  the  tumult,  and  the  excitements  of 
life,  I  will  think  about  religion,  and,  to  use  the  world's  lan- 
guage, begin  to  be  serious.  This  is  just  the  inverse  of  what 
is  here  described;  but,  whatever  man  may  think,  God's  way 
has  ever  been  found  to  be  the  successful  one.  The  man  who 
makes  religion  his  chief  business,  and  worldly  things  his  sec- 
ondary business,  gets  both;  and  the  man  who  makes  the 
world  his  chief  thing,  and  religion  his  secondary  thing,  often 
loses  both ;  and,  to  a  dead  certainty,  loses  one,  and  that  one 
the  most  important.  It  is  a  law  as  certain  as  rising  and  set- 
ting suns,  "  Them  that  honor  me  I  will  honor."  They  who 
set  their  hearts  first  upon  the  things  that  are  unseen  and 


THE   WAY   OF    THE   BLESSED   LIFE.  247 

eternal  will  have  all  that  is  good  for  them  of  the  things  that 
are  seen  and  temporal ;  whereas  they  who  set  their  hearts 
supremely  upon  the  things  that  are  seen  and  temporal  will  not 
be  satisfied  with  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  palaces,  nor  gardens, 
nor  men-servants,  nor  women-servants,  nor  instruments  of 
music,  nor  all  that  this  world  can  provide  ;  and  they  will  miss, 
in  the  ardor  of  their  worldly  and  sensuous  pursuits,  that  great 
and  precious  gem,  salvation,  with  its  lasting  light  of  glory 
and  beauty. 

I  have  spoken  generally  of  the  order  of  this  prescription: 
let  us  now  consider  as  minutely  as  possible  its  specific  clauses. 
What  is  "  the  kingdom  of  God  "  ?  It  means  the  ^acrdeiu,  the 
sovereignty,  the  government,  of  God.  The  idea  contained  in 
the  prescription  is.  Bring  into  all  your  thoughts,  afiections, 
desires,  the  controlling  government  of  God ;  and  you  will  find 
that  all  other  things  will  fall  naturally  and  necessarily  into 
their  proper  places.  That  kingdom,  we  are  told,  is  not  meat 
nor  drink.  It  is  not  a  question  about  what  I  shall  eat,  or 
what  I  shall  drink,  or  wherewithal  I  shall  be  clothed ;  but  it 
is  "  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost." 
Therefore,  be  a  subject  of  that  kingdom ;  accept  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  its  King  and  Governor ;  pursue  righteousness,  and 
peace,  and  joy,  and  you  will  find  that  earthly  and  subordinate 
blessings  will  pursue  you.  The  great  law  is.  Pursue  heavenly 
things,  and  earthly  things  will  follow ;  pursue  earthly  things, 
and  you  may  miss  them,  while  heavenly  things  will  not  follow. 
Seek  first  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy ;  seek  first  to  live, 
and  act,  and  speak,  and  think,  under  the  government,  with  a 
sense  of  the  presence  of,  and  as  responsible  to,  the  God  who 
made  you,  and  gave  Christ  to  die  for  you ;  and  then  all  other 
things  will  be  added. 

But  there  is  singled  out  here  one  distinctive  and  prom- 
inent element  in  this  kingdom,  namely,  "  His  righteousness." 
There  are  three   constituent  elements  of  the  kingdom  of 


248  THE   WAY   OP   THE   BLESSED   LIFE. 

heaven  —  righteousness,  peace,  joy  ;  but  one  of  them  is  the 
basis  of  the  other  two  ;  or,  rather,  righteousness  is  the  root, 
peace  is  the  blossom,  and  joy  is  the  fruit  into  which  that 
blossom  ripens.  Now,  says  our  blessed  Lord,  seek  that  king- 
dom, and  this  its  distinctive  and  most  glorious  peculiarity, 
righteousness,  first,  and  all  the  other  things  will  be  added 
unto  you.  The  righteousness  may  be  purity  of  heart,  meek- 
ness of  temper,  integrity  of  conduct,  singleness  of  purpose, 
simplicity  of  eye  ;  or  it  may  be  that  distinctive  righteousness, 
which  is  so  peculiar  to  Christianity,  as  there  only  revealed, 
the  righteousness  by  which  we  are  justified,  or  "  the  righteous- 
ness of  God  without  the  law  manifested,  being  witnessed  by 
the  law  and  the  prophets  ;  even  the  righteousness  of  God 
which  is  by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  unto  all  and  upon  all  them 
that  believe  :  for  there  is  no  difierence  :  for  all  have  sinned, 
and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God ;  being  justified  freely 
by  his  grace  through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus  : 
whom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith 
in  his  blood,  to  declare  his  righteousness  for  the  remission  of 
sins  that  are  past,  through  the  forbearance  of  God ;  to  de- 
clare, I  say,  at  this  time,  his  righteousness  :  that  he  might  be 
just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  which  believeth  in  Jesus."  We 
may  take  it,  therefore,  as  that  righteousness  which  is  imputed, 
and  constitutes  our  title  to  heaven  ;  or  that  righteousness 
which  is  imparted,  and  makes  our  fitness  for  heaven :  either 
that  righteousness  which  is  upon  us,  and  of  which  Christ  is 
the  author;  or  that  righteousness  which  is  in  us,  and  of  which 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  tL-e  worker :  the  external  righteousness 
perfect,  our  only  title ;  the  inner  righteousness  imperfect,  but 
progressive,  and  our  only  fitness  for  the  realms  of  glory. 

Having  seen  what  is  meant  by  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  by 
this  righteousness,  we  are,  in  the  next  place,  to  see  how  it 
can  be  practically  applied.  In  teaching  or  in  learning,  in 
college  or  in  school,  seek  first  the  kino-dom  of  God  and  his 


THE   WAY   OP   THE   BLESSED   LIFE.  249 

righteousness.  In  other  words,  do  not  teach  scionce  first, 
religion  next,  but  religion  first,  and  science  immediately  after 
it.  Do  not  suppose  that  schools  will  prosper  where  science 
is  all,  and  religion  nothing,  any  more  than  that  schools  can 
be  of  efl&cient  use  in  reference  to  earth,  where  religion  only 
is  taught,  and  science  is  excluded.  We  do  not  wish  science 
to  be  cast  out  of  our  schools  any  more  than  religion  ;  but  we 
wish  science  and  religion  both  to  be  taught,  but  each  in  its 
own  relative  place  —  religion  the  governing,  the  all-per- 
vading, the  controlling  element ;  and  science,  that  which 
follows  it,  most  precious  and  most  important  in  its  own  place. 
Not  that  W3  wish  to  modify  scientific  discovery  by  religious 
truth,  but  that  we  wish  man,  whatever  he  learns,  whatever  he 
studies,  to  do  it  in  the  fear  of  God,  never  forgetting  that, 
amid  all  the  accomplishments  and  attainments  of  this  present 
life,  there  is  with  reference  to  eternity  only  vexation  of  spirit, 
and  that  only  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and  his  Son  Christ 
Jesus  is  there  eternal  life.  We  are  not  to  go  through  Sol- 
omon to  Christ,  but  by  Christ  to  Solomon.  We  are  not  to 
cast  out  Solomon,  that  we  may  study  Christ,  nor  still  less  to 
cast  out  Christ,  that  we  may  study  Solomon ;  but  to  take  the 
wisdom  of  this  world,  and  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above,  to 
give  to  each  its  place,  but  to  religion  the  supreme,  the  dom- 
inant, the  most  honorable  place  in  our  afiections,  and  our 
hearts,  and  our  pursuits.     This  is  the  blessed  life. 

In  the  next  place,  we  are  to  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  his  righteousness,  by  seeking  above  all  things,  and  se- 
curing primarily,  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  Do  not  seek  first 
to  be  learned,  to  be  rich,  to  be  famed,  but  to  be  saved.  Carry 
this  as  the  most  important  principle  that  you  can  bear  with 
you  into  the  world,  "  What  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  gain 
the  whole  world,"  that  is,  all  these  things,  "  and  lose  his  own 
soul  ? "  that  is,  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness. 
Therefore,  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  that  is,  secure  the 


250  THE   WAY   OP   THE   BLESSED   LIFE. 

safety  of  the  soul ;  and  then  go  forth  unshackled  and  unfet- 
tered to  seek  the  remaining  things  in  their  place,  and  with 
the  amount  of  energy  and  attention  that  is  proportionate  to 
their  subordinate  importance. 

In  settling  on  a  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  if  that  be  your, 
option,  apply  this  text.  Do  not  first  of  all  attach  import- 
ance to  the  denomination,  and  then  a  secondary  importance 
to  what  the  minister  of  it  teaches.  Rather  seek  a  ministry 
that  preaches  vital  truth  in  an  ecclesiastical  polity  you  dis- 
like,- than  a  ministry  that  preaches  deadly  and  pernicious 
error  in  an  ecclesiastical  polity  that  you  prefer.  Do  not  seek 
the  form  first,  the  substance  second  ;  but  the  substance  first, 
the  form  next.  Sacrifice  a  ceremony  for  the  truth's  sake ; 
give  up  what  you  love,  in  order  to  have  what  you  cannot  live 
without.  Concede  a  prejudice  however  early,  a  prepossession 
however  deep,  for  the .  sake  of  that  precious  truth  through 
which  you  are  sanctified,  and  except  in  the  light  of  which  you 
cannot  see  the  way  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And  when 
any  one  says,  you  ought  not  to  forsake  a  ministry  that  does 
not  preach  truth,  but  to  continue  under  it,  praying  that  it 
may  be  better  taught,  and  hoping  that  it  may  teach  truth,  so 
far  there  is  good  in  this,  but  there  is  danger.  If,  day  after 
day,  you  take  with  your  daily  meals  the  minutest  doses  of 
poison,  these  minute  homoeopathic  doses,  if  I  may  so  call 
them,  will  ultimately  affect  the  whole  system  ;  and  if  3^ou 
attend  a  ministry  where  error  is  preached,  however  minutely, 
it  will  ultimately  affect  your  soul's  health.  Analogy  so  teaches 
us ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  better  to  go  to  the  chapel  to 
hear  the  Gospel,  than  to  rem.ain  in  the  parish  church  where  it 
is  not  preached  at  all ;  for,  if  you  love  the  parish  church 
much,  surely  you  love  the  Gospel  more ;  and,  should  such  a 
necessity  ever  occur  to  you,  you  leave  the  parish  church,  not 
because  you  love  it  less,  but  because  you  love  the  Gospel 
more.    You  must  seek  first  vital  truth,  evangelical  Christian- 


THE   WAY   OF    THE   BLESSED    LIFE.  251 

ity,  living  religion,  and  tlien  all  the  rest  you  will  take  as  you 
can  get  it,  and  thus  sacrifice  all  for  the  maintenance  of  a  vital 
and  indispensable  principle. 

In  the  education  of  your  children  in  the  school  and  at 
home,  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God.  Rather  bring  them  up 
ignorant  of  many  an  elegant  accomplishment,  than  ignorant 
of  real  religion.  Send  them  to  a  school  where  they  may  be 
taught  the  accomplishments  that  you  prefer,  if  you  like,  but 
see  that  they  are  there  first  taught  the  religion  without  which 
they  cannot  live  holy,  and  die  happy.  Send  them  by  all 
means  to  be  taught  by  the  most  accomplished  scholar,  but  try 
first  to  ascertain  if  that  scholar  be  also  a  Christian.  Do  not 
teach  your  children  first  to  be  churchmen,  and  then  Chris- 
tians, or  first  to  be  dissenters,  and  then  Christians ;  but  teach 
them  first  to  be  Christians,  and  leave  the  churchmanship  and 
the  dissent  to  arrange  themselves  as  may  be.  Seek  first,  in 
the  education  of  your  children,  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  sov- 
ereignty, the  reign,  the  influence  of  real  religion ;  and  all  the 
details  of  form  and  ceremony,  and  sect  and  system,  will 
wonderfully  adjust  themselves.  If  all  our  faces  are  right 
towards  heaven,  we  shall  all  march  in  beautiful  and  con- 
sistent array;  for,  seeking  the  main  thing,  the  subordinate 
things  will  all  be  vouchsafed  to  us. 

In  your  domestic  arrangements  seek  first  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  his  righteousness.  Begin  each  day  with  seeking 
the  blessing,  without  which  it  cannot  prosper.  Let  your  first 
thoughts  and  your  first  exercises  be  those  of  real  religion. 
Seek  every  day  first  in  time,  as  well  as  first  in  thought,  "  the 
kincrdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness ;  and  all  the  rest  shall 
be  added  unto  you." 

In  entering  on  business,  in  selecting  a  profession,  do  not 
look  alone  at  this,  What  will  bring  me  the  most  money  ?  but 
look  first  at  this,  Is  it  consistent  with  Christian  duty  ?  Will 
it  leave  me  room  for  Christian  thought,  scriptural  study,  holy 


252  THE   WAY   OF    THE    BLESSED   LIFE. 

privilege  ?  Do  not  select  a  profession,  a  business,  or  an  em- 
ployment, that  will  give  you  no  Sabbath,  that  will  leave  you 
no  time  for  reading  Grod's  holy  word ;  but  seek  first  a  busi- 
ness or  a  profession  that  will  allow  you  time  for  religion ; 
and  then  the  rest  will  be  added.  Do  not  make  the  greatest 
profit  to  be  the  governing  principle  in  your  selection,  but  a 
subordinate  one.  Make  it  second,  if  you  like,  or  third,  if  you 
like,  but  be  sure  that  it  is  not  made  first. 

In  changing  your  residence,  in  emigrating  (as  in  these 
days  men  are  emigrating  to  such  an  extent,  that  the  phrase 
given  to  their  emigration  is  "  an  exodus  "),  do  not  go  where 
the  mines  have  the  richest  gold,  or  where  the  valleys  are 
likely  most  to  answer  your  expectations  of  profit ;  but  do 
take  into  consideration  this  mighty,  vital,  everlasting,  never- 
ceasing  to  be  obligatory  question,  Shall  I  there  hear  the 
Gospel?  Shall  I  be  there  within  reach  of  a  company  of 
Christians  ?  Shall  I  be  there  excluded  from  all  that  can  re- 
mind me  of  God,  of  judgment,  of  a  Saviour,  of  the  soul,  of 
eternity?  Do  not,  like  poor  Lot,  prefer  the  well- watered 
valley  of  the  Jordan  to  higher  and  holier  considerations  ;  but 
seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  think  first  about  religion,  and 
then  think  next  where  the  richest  mines  are  struck,  where  the 
best  pastures  are  to  be  found,  and  where  you  are  likely 
soonest  to  get  on  in  a  world  that  is  soon  to  pass  away. 

Thus  your  life  will  embody  the  prescription  of  Jesus,  which, 
like  the  great  law  of  gravitation,  when  once  brought  into 
action,  will  govern  and  control  all  with  an  unseen  but  not  an 
unfelt  power  and  influence — "Seek  first  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  his  righteousness;  and  all  these  things  shall  be 
added  unto  you."  Thus  you  will  have  true  enjoyment  of  the 
things  that  you  have  ;  for  you  will  be  able  to  say,  I  have  not 
a  shilling  in  my  purse,  nor  a  sovereign  in  my  bank,  that  has 
been  earned  in  God's  wrath,  or  in  opposition  to  God's  will,  or 
in  defiance  of  God's  ways.     You  will  feel  your  possessions  to 


TUE    WAY    OF    TUE    CIJ::SSED    LIFE.  253 

be  sweetened  bj  the  happy  recollections  that  they  are  not 
what  you  sought  first,  but  that  they  are  things  which  God  has 
added  unto  you  whilst  you  were  seeking  first  the  better  and 
the  holier  things  of  eternity.  And  when  God  takes  away  in 
his  providence  those  subordinate  things,  you  will  still  have 
peace ;  for  you  will  have  that  kingdom  of  God,  and  his 
righteousness,  which  are  the  inexhaustible  springs  of  real 
happiness ;  and,  in  the  absence  of  this  world's  good  things, 
you  will  have  contentment ;  in  the  possession  of  this  world's 
good  things,  you  will  have  thankfulness ;  and  whether  God 
gives  or  takes  away,  your  being  possessed  of  this  kingdom 
and  righteousness  will  enable  you  to  say,  "  Blessed  be  the 
name  of  the  Lord." 

Such  is  the  way  to  enjoy  the  blessed  life.    The  prescription 
is  from  the  tree  of  life.      It  is  not  new  or  untried,  but 
ancient,  practical  and  ever  successful. 
22 


CHAPTER    XX. 

COMPLETE    IN    CHllIST. 

*•  I  know  that  safe  -vvith  hitn  remains. 
Protected  by  his  power, 
What  I  'vc  committed  to  his  trust. 
Till  the  decisive  hour. 

"  JesuSj  my  shepherd,  husband,  friend. 
My  prophet,  priest,  and  king, 
My  lord,  my  life,  my  way,  my  end, 
Accept  the  praise  I  bring  !  " 

<' Ye  are  complete  in  Christ."  —  Colossians  2  :  10. 

This  is  one  of  the  shortest,  but  most  expressive  epitomes 
of  the  most  essential  and  vital  truth  of  our  blessed  religion. 
The  apostle  warns  those  to  whom  he  addressed  the  text 
against  supposing  that  any  philosophy  that  could  be  imported 
from  the  most  polished  capitals  or  universities  of  the  earth, 
or  any  wisdom  that  could  be  struck  out  by  the  genius  of  man, 
is  at  all  requisite,  or  in  any  sense  needed,  in  order  to  consti- 
tute our  perfect  acceptance  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He 
says,  "  You  do  not  need,  as  fir  as  your  acceptance  in  him  is 
concerned,  the  sparks  of  philosophy ;  for  you  have  the  great, 
bright  sun.  You  do  not  need  the  cup  of  water ;  you  have 
access  to  the  fountain.  You  do  not  require  the  rags  of 
human  righteousness,  tainted  and  imperfect  even  when  they 
are  purest ;  you  have  Christ  the  Lord  your  righteousness,  all 
your  wisdom,  all  your  sanctification,  all  your  desire."  St. 
Paul  does  not  mean  that  we  may  not  study  philosophy,  or 


COMPLETE    IN    CHRIST.  255 

that  we  are  not  to  acquaint  oui'selves  with  science.  The 
apostle  is  speaking,  not  of  what  is  ornamental  upon  earth, 
but  of  what  is  essential  in  the  prospect  of  eternity.  He  is 
pronouncing  judgment  in  the  sphere  of  religion,  not  in  the 
sphere  of  himian  literature,  science,  or  acquirement  of  any  sort ; 
he  says,  "  Whatever  may  be  useful  to  you  as  men,  whatever 
may  be  dutiful  as  citizens,  this  alone  is  essential  in  the  pros- 
pect of  an  everlasting  world —  Christ,  our  priest,  prophet,  and 
king;  " — in  other  words,  "  Ye  are  complete  in  him." 

What  are  some  of  the  constituent  elements  of  our  complete- 
ness in  Christ  Jesus  ?  I  would  answer,  our  completeness  in 
Christ  must  denote  our  supply  in  him  of  all  we  lost  in  Adam. 
In  him  we  lost  our  knowledge  of  God,  our  title  and  fitness  for 
heaven,  and  all  that  the  creature  originally  had  as  made  in 
the  image  of  a  holy  and  perfectly  happy  God.  All  we  lost  in 
Adam  is  restored  in  Christ  a  thousand-fold.  We  are  in  him 
completely  furnished  with  all  that  God  can  exact  of  a  creat- 
ure at  a  judgment-day,  or  that  can  fit  a  sinner  for  the  joys, 
the  glories,  and  the  blessedness  of  heaven. 

But  what  is  meant  by  being  in  Christ  ?  It  is  not  enough 
to  know  that  Christ  was,  it  is  requisite  we  should  feel  that 
Christ  is  to  us  something  more  than  a  distant  person,  or  an 
historical  fact ;  in  other  words,  that  he  is  to  us  a  Saviour, 
prophet,  priest,  and  king.  In  Christ  is  to  be  a  Christian. 
Complete  in  Christ  is  having  all  that  a  Christian  needs,  or 
that  a  Christian  heart  can  desire.  "There  is  no  condemna- 
tion to  them  that  are  in  Christ."  "  I  knew  a  man,"  says  the 
apostle  "  in  Christ." 

This  phraseology  is  so  strange,  so  violent,  as  mere  gram- 
mar, that,  if  it  were  not  meant  to  convey  a  thought  too  mag- 
nificent for  the  formulas  of  human  speech,  it  would  be  un- 
justifiable. We  never  say  that  a  servant  is  in  his  master,  a 
pupil  in  his  teacher,  a  philosopher  in  his  founder.  Such  lan- 
guage would  be  absurd.     Then,  how  is  it  that  the  apostle  says 


256  COMPLETE   IN   CHRIST. 

that  a  Christian  is  in  Christ  ?  The  explanation  of  it  is,  that 
a  Christian's  connection  with  Christ  is  totally  different  from  a 
pupil's  relation  to  his  teacher,  or  a  servant's  connection  with 
his.  master,  or  a  philosopher's  communion  with  his  founder. 
A  Christian  is  so  truly  knit  to  Christ,  that  he  is  represented 
by  a  branch  in  a  tree,  not  tied  on,  not  mechanically  fastened 
to  the  parent  stem,  but  part  and  parcel  of  its  substance,  de- 
riving nutriment  and  sap  from  its  roots,  and  bearing  fruit,  not 
in  virtue  of  its  own  vitality,  but  of  a  vitality  derived  from 
the  stem  and  roots  vfith  which  it  is  connected. 

Thus  a  Christian  is  in  Christ.  Now,  in  Christ,  says  the 
apostle,  we  are  complete.  In  what  respects?  We  lost  in 
Adam  our  knowledge  of  God.  When  Adam  turned  his  back 
upon  Paradise,  his  brightest  recollections  of  Deity  were  ex- 
punged from  his  memory,  and  his  holiest  impressions  of  His 
presence  faded  away  from  his  heart;  and  all  Adam's  sons,  as 
far  as  they  are  dependent  upon  earthly  sources  for  their  ac- 
quaintance with  God,  are  yet  more  ignorant  than  he.  Crea- 
tion, before  Adam  fell,  was  the  perfect  mirror  of  God.  Look- 
ing on  its  streams,  its  flowers,  its  landscapes,  man  could  see 
God ;  but,  the  instant  that  sin  smote  creation,  it  shivered  the 
grand  and  beautiful  mirror  into  a  thousand  fragments,  and 
now,  instead  of  reflecting  the  likeness  of  God,  it  refracts  it, 
and  conveys  distorted,  mutilated,  and  imperfect  representations 
of  it :  so  that,  looking  into  creation,  we  can  see  in  one  place 
evidence  that  God  is  good,  and  in  another  place  e^ddcnce  that 
God  is  angry,  and  in  another  place  evidence  that  G  od  pmiishes 
sin ;  and  the  creature's  creed,  as  inferred  from  the  page  of 
creation,  must  be  a  mass  of  inconsistency  and  imperfection. 
He  must  be  perplexed  to  know  what  God  is.  If  God  be  holy, 
will  he  punish  all  sin  ?  If  God  be  good,  will  he  pardon  all 
sin  ?  How  deep  down  the  moral  scale  will  his  mercy  descend 
in  pardoning  ?  How  high  will  his  justice  ascend  in  punish- 
ing ?     Will  he  condemn  all  ?  or  will  he  save  all  ?  or  whom 


COMPLETE    IN    CllllIST.  257 

will  he  pardon  ?  and  whom  will  he  punish  ?  Nature  is  dumb, 
the  oracle  is  silent,  the  mirror  reflects  not  the  deepest  truth 
that  human  nature  yearns  to  know.  ■  But  that  knowledge 
which  we  lost  in  Adam  is  restored  in  Christ.  We  see  in  him 
the  very  brightness  of  God's  glory,  in  his  tears  God's  com- 
passion, in  his  miracles  God's  power,  in  his  death  God's  jus- 
tice, in  his  sacrifice  God's  love.  Looking  into  that  face  that, 
was  marred  on  earth,  but  is  now  resplendent  with  unutterable 
glory  beside  the  throne,  I  can  see  my  Father,  and  learn  the 
solution  of  the  perplexing  problem,  how  God  can  be  holy  a^d 
just  while  he  yet  pardons  my  sins,  and  saves  my  soul.  I  am 
complete  in  Christ  Jesus. 

We  are  complete  in  Christ,  as  far  as  our  title  to  our  for- 
feited inheritance  is  concerned.  We  lost  in  Adam  our  title  to 
heaven.  What  was  that  ?  This  do,  and  thou  shalt  live  :  be 
perfectly  holy,  and  you  shall  be  perpetually  happy.  That 
was  the  law  under  which  Adam  was  placed ;  that  is  the  law 
under  which  we  are  placed.  But  every  conscience  tells  every 
man  that  he  has  broken  the  law,  and  that,  if  perpetual  happi- 
ness is  the  blossom  of  perfect  and  perpetual  holiness,,  he  can 
never  see  it.  But  Christ  is  to  us  what  we  never  could  be  to 
God.  He  who  knew  no  sin  was  made  sin  for  me,  that  I  might 
be  made  just  what  I  want,  complete  in  the  prospect  of 
eternity,  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him.  It  is  not  true  that 
under  Christianity  the  law  is  diluted  ;  it  is  not  fact  that  the 
Lawgiver  has  come  down  from  his  demands.  With  Adam  it 
was,  "  Do  it  yourself  personally,  and  you  shall  live  forever," 
With  us  it  is,  "  Believe  that  Christ  has  done  it  for  you,  and 
you  will  just  live  as  truly  as  if  you  had  been  Adam,  and  done 
it,  and  been  happy  forever."  In  other  words,  Adam  had  to 
perform  the  righteousness  in  order  to  have  the  title.  He 
made  the  attempt  and  failed.  We  have  but  to  accept  the 
title  already  made,  and  we  are  justified  and  all-glorious  in  the 
sight  of  God.  Now,  what  a  blessed  truth  is  this,  that  what 
22=^ 


258 


COMPLETE    IN    CIIRIST. 


we  lost  in  Adam — a  right  to  heaven — is  restored  in  Christ; 
that  what  man  could  not  do  in  the  best  of  circumstances, 
what  he  never  can  hope  to  do  in  the  worst  of  circumstances, 
Christ  has  done  for  us ;  and  I,  the  chiefest  of  sinners,  rest- 
ing upon  him,  in  the  exercise  of  true  faith,  as  mj  substitute, 
mj  sacrifice,  and  all  my  righteousness,  am  just  as  accepted  in 
the  sight  of  God  as  if  I  had  never  fallen,  accepted  as  Christ 
himself;  for  my  righteousness  is  not  man's,  but  a  divine 
righteousness,  the  Lord  my  righteousness. 

'Luther  justly  called  this  the  article  of  a  standing  or  a  fall- 
ing church,  that  we  are  justified  before  God  so  completely  by 
the  righteousness  of  Christ,  that  we  do  not  want  any  other, 
even  if  there  were  any  other.  We  are  complete.  The 
righteousness  is  perfect.  Our  possession  of  it  is  indubitable. 
We  do  not  need  any'other  righteousness ;  we  desire  no  addi- 
tion to  it.  Would  you  bring  a  farthing  taper  to  increase  the 
light  of  the  meridian  sun  ?  Would  you  take  a  little  rag  of 
human  raiment  to  patch  on  the  glorious  garment  of  our  salva- 
tion ?  We  are  complete,  and  we  would  tell  saints  in  glory,  if 
they  ofiered  their  assistance,  and  still  more  sinners  upon  earth, 
whether  priests  or  people,  "  We  need  nothing  else  than  what 
we  have,  and  we  can  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  Christ 
has  provided.  We  are  completely  justified  and  pardoned; 
we  are  complete  in  Christ." 

We  are  complete  in  Christ  in  the  sense  that  in  him  we  have 
all  fitness  for  heaven  provided  for  us.  We  need  not  only  a 
title  to  heaven,  which  we  lost  in  Adam,  but  we  need  also  a 
fitness  for  heaven,  which  we  lost  also  in  Adam.  Heaven  is  a 
prepared  place  ("  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you")  for  a 
prepared  people  ("  He  hath  made  us  meet,"  or  fit,  "  for  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light ").  We  need,  not  only  a 
change  of  state,  which  is  effected  by  Christ's  righteousness 
being  imputed  to  us,  but  we  need  a  change  of  character,  which 
is  effected  by  Christ's  Spirit  dwelling  in  us.    I  need  not  only  to 


COMPLETE   IN    CnRIST.  259 

be  complete  as  to  my  title,  but  also  as  to  my  character.  And 
the  same  Saviour  who  took  my  sins  upon  him,  and  bore  their 
penalty,  and  gives  to  me  his  righteousness,  that  I  may  inherit 
its  results,  sends,  also,  the  Holy  Spirit  to  change  the  heart  of 
stone  into  the  heart  of  flesh,  to  dissipate  ray  prejudices,  to 
bow  the  stubborn  force  of  my  passions,  to  create  in  me  a  clean 
heart,  to  make  me  progressively  conformed  unto  himself: 
so  that,  when  I  shall  enter  heaven  in  virtue  of  the  only 
title,  Christ's  righteousness,  I  may  find  myself  able  to  breathe 
its  air,  to  join  in  its  songs,  to  take  apart  in  its  services,  to 
mingle  with  its  happy  groups,  and  to  live  there  the  blessed  life 
in  its  intensest  state.  This,  also,  I  have,  and  therefore  am 
complete  in  Christ ;  for  he  said,  "  It  is  expedient  for  you  that 
I  go  away :  for,  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not 
come  unto  you :  but  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  him  unto  you." 
Again,  we  are  told  that  the  Spirit  regenerates  the  heart,  en- 
lightens the  mind,  comforts,  sanctifies,  purifies.  I  have  in. 
Christ  that  Holy  Spirit.  I  am  not  to  look  to  baptism  for  it, 
X  must  not  look  to  the  Lord's  supper  for  it,  —  I  must  look 
above  both,  to  Jesus  alone,  as  the  fountain  from  whom  the 
Spirit  comes,  and  by  that  Spirit  alone  I  am  sanctified  and 
made  fit  for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light. 

I  might  go  over  almost  every  grace  in  the  Christian  econ- 
omy, and  show  that  all  are  to  be  had  in  Christ.  Do  we  need 
an  altar  ?  We  have  one,  but  not  of  stone  or  brick,  in  the 
outer  sanctuary,  but  "  an  altar  whereof  they  have  no  right 
to  eat  which  serve  the  tabernacle,"  —  Jesus  Christ,  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day  and  forever.  Do  we  need  a  priest  ?  There 
is  no  visible  priest  in  the  Christian  church.  Jesus  Christ  is  our 
High  Priest,  who  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us.  Do 
we  need  a  sacrifice  ?  There  is  no  atoning  sacrifice  in  the 
house  of  Grod.  The  Lord's  supper  is  a  festival,  not  a  sacri- 
fice. Jesus  Christ  ofiered  up  one  sacrifice,  once  for  all, 
inexhaustible,  and  available  forever.     Do  we  need  peace  ? 


260  COMPLETE   IN   CHRIST. 

He  is  our  peace.  Do  we  need  to  know  the  way  to  heaven  ? 
"  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life."  Do  we  need  a  rule 
of  faith  ?  His  word  is  the  lamp  to  our  feet,  and  the  light  to 
our  path.  Do  we  need  a  hope  that  maketh  not  ashamed  ? 
"Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory."  Therefore,  we  need  not 
the  traditions  of  men;  we  have  the  inspired,  written  and 
permanent  truth  of  God.  Therefore,  we  need  not  the  sacri- 
fices of  human  altars;  for  Christ  made  an  end  of  sin  when 
he  died  once  for  all,  the  just  for  the  unjust.  We  need  not 
merit  of  works,  or  the  supererogatory  virtues  of  a  pretended 
church,  or  the  merit  of  penance,  or  of  purgatory,  or  any 
other ;  for  we  have  a  perfect  righteousness  in  Christ.  We 
need  not  the  intercession  of  assumed  saints  beside  the  throne ; 
for  Jesus  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us,  and  we  are 
complete  in  him.  We  need  not  the  purifying  of  purgatorial 
fire ;  for  his  blood  cleanseth  from  all  sin.  We  need  not  the 
forgiveness  of  council  or  Pope;  for  we  are  completely  forgiven 
in  him.  Be  steadfast,  therefore,  and  immovable,  always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

THE    BLESSED    PROMISE. 

"No  sickness  there, 
No  weary  wasting  of  the  frame  away  ; 
No  fearful  shrinking  from  the  midnight  air, 
^  No  dread  of  summer's  bright  and  fervid  ray  ; 

"  No  hidden  grief. 
No  wild  and  cheerless  vision  of  despair  ; 
No  vain  petition  for  a  swift  relief. 
No  tearful  eye,  no  broken  hearts,  are  there. 

"  Care  has  no  home 
Within  that  realm  of  ceaseless  praise  and  song  : 
Its  tossing  billows  break  and  melt  in  foam. 
Far  from  the  mansions  of  the  spirit-throng. 

"  The  storm's  black  wing 
Is  never  spread  athwart  celestial  skies  ; 
Its  wailings  blend  not  with  the  voice  of  spring. 
As  some  too  tender  floweret  fades  and  dies. 

"  With  Hope,  our  guide. 
White-robed  and  innocent,  to  tread  the  way, 
Why  fear  to  plunge  in  Jordan's  rolling  tide, 
And  find  the  haven  of  eternal  day  1  " 

"  In  hope  of  eternal  life,  which  God,  that  cannot  lie,  promised  before 
the  world  began."  —  Titus  1  :  2. 

The  stream  of  Christian  safety  begins  in  God,  and  leads 
infallibly  to  God.  Only  a  religion  that  comes  from  heaven 
can  lead  men  to  heaven.     The  origin  or  fountain  of  our  faith 


262  THE   BLESSED   PROMISE. 

is  the  pledge  of  its  issue.  Eternal  life  was  promised  before 
the  world  began ;  its  beginning  was  eternity,  and  its  issue 
shall  be  eternity.  The  past  and  the  present  announce  one 
grand  truth  —  salvation.  All  lines  from  the  past,  the  present 
and  the  future,  —  the  great  circumference,  —  meet  and  mingla 
in  Christ,  in  whom  all  the  promises,  and  the  promise  of  eter- 
nal life  among  the  rest,  are  yea  and  amen. 

The  scheme  of  mercy  and  redeeming  love  was  not  an  after 
device,  to  remedy  an  untoward  or  an  unhappy  disaster.  The 
common  idea,  but  a  very  unjust  one,  is,  that  man  unfortunately 
sinned,  and  that  God  was  necessitated  to  interpose  after  this  dis- 
aster, in  order  to  remedy  the  ruin  that  sin  had  wrought,  and  to 
introduce  a  better  and  a  more  glorious  dispensation  ;  whereas, 
the  Bible  plainly  indicates  that  the  whole  scheme  of  mercy  was 
devised  before  the  world  began,  that  it  was  the  burden  of  a 
promise  before  there  was  a  single  sinner  to  taste  the  sweet- 
ness of  that  promise.  "  In  hope,"  says  the  apostle,  "  of 
eternal  life,  which  God  hath  promised  before  the  world  be- 
gan." But  in  man's  sin,  though  God  thus  prearranged,  God 
had  no  share.  In  man's  salvation  God  has  all  and  exclusively 
the  share.  God  shall  receive  nothing  of  the  dishonor  that 
accrues  from  man's  sin ;  he  shall  receive  all  the  glory  that 
results  from  man's  salvation.  Before  man's  sin,  God  pur- 
posed to  save  him  ;  before  sin  was  in  the  world,  eternal  life 
was  promised  in  Christ  to  them  that  should  believe  on  his 
name.  If  this  be  so,  the  doctrine  of  grace  is  not  a  new  reli- 
gion. It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  Protestant  religion,  which 
is  salvation  by  grace,  is  the  new  faith ;  and  that  the  papal 
religion,  which  is  the  salvation  by  works,  moral  and  sacerdotal, 
is  the  old.  The  papal  religion  is  very  old,  but  it  is  not  old 
enough  to  be  true ;  it  is  old,  but  the  Protestant  religion  is 
first,  for  our  religion  was  devised  by  the  wisdom,  expressed 
by  the  love,  performed  by  the  faithfulness  of  God,  and  in 
the  promise,  before  there  was  a  sinner  to  be  saved,  or  ruin 


THE   BLESSED    PllOMISE.  203 

introduced  by  sin  to  be  rectified.  The  patriarchs  unfolded 
the  promise  that  God  made  before  the  world  began,  the  apos- 
tles more  clearly  developed  and  displayed  it,  and  the  reformers 
of  the  sixteenth  century  simply  rescued  and  vindicated  its 
claims  from  the  corrupt  and  deadly  superstition  which  had 
overlaid  it.  The  Christian  faith  was  not  an  invention  made 
in  the  councils  of  heaven  after  sin  had  introduced  itself  and 
its  ruin  into  the  world.  Before  the  world  began,  before  a 
creature  was  made  on  earth,  or  sin  had  infected  a  single 
province  of  it,  the  great  scheme  of  restoration  was  devised, 
and  committed  to  a  promise,  to  be  realized  in  the  fulness  of 
the  times. 

But  when  we  read  of  a  promise  made  before  the  world 
began,  we  are  naturally  puzzled  to  ascertain  to  whom  this 
promise  was  made.  A  promise  always  implies  a  promiser 
and  a  person  to  whom  it  is  given ;  there  must  be  two  parties 
in  this  matter,  —  one  is  not  enough.  If  these  two  parties  be 
required  for  a  promise,  who  can  have  been  the  party  to  whom 
it  was  made  before  man  was  himself  created,  or  the  world  was 
organized  as  it  is  ?  It  was  not  made  to  man,  for  he  was  not  in 
existence.  It  was  not  made  to  angels ;  the  elect  angels  needed 
it  not,  and  the  lost  angels  were  beyond  the  reach  of  it.  To 
whom,  then,  was  it  made?  To  Him  who  was  before  the 
world,  who  created  it,  who  was  in  the  beginning,  and  was 
God,  and  was  with  God,  and  without  whom  nothing  was  made 
that  was  made,  and  who  afterwards  became  man.  The  prom- 
ise was  given  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

But,  if  made  to  him,  what  interest  can  we  have  in  it  ?  He 
was  selected  as  the  head  in  whom  the  promise  should  be  de- 
posited for  us ;  by  union  with  whom,  we  that  need  the  promise 
taste  its  sweetness,  and  reap  all  its  power.  The  first  promise, 
"  The  woman's  seed  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head,"  which 
embosomed  the  frailty  of  man  and  the  victory  of  Christ,  was 
made  in  him,  as  it  was  made  to  him.     It  was  a  note  of  this 


264  THE    BLESSED    PllOMISE. 

promise  audible ;  it  was  a  leaf  from  this  tree  of  life  laid  3n 
the  heart  of  humanity,  which  was  further  developed — the 
very  same  promise,  not  another  promise  —  when  God  said  to 
Abraham,  "  In  thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed."  The  whole  course  of  revelation  is  just  the  promise 
of  eternal  life,  which  was  made  to  Christ  the  mediator,  be- 
coming more  and  more  unequivocally  displayed,  still  more 
and  more  audible,  until  it  shall  find  its  echoes  in  the  song  of 
the  everlasting  jubilee,  "  Glory,  and  honor,  and  blessing,  and 
power,  unto  him  that  loved  us  and  washed  us  in  his  blood, 
and  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  our  God;  and  we 
shall  reign  with  him  for  ever  and  ever."  Thus  the  promises 
were  made  to  Christ,  but  made  to  him,  not  as  God,  but  as  the 
mediator  between  God  and  man.  Union  with  Christ  by  liv- 
ing faith  is  necessary  on  our  part  to  realize  the  promises,  and 
to  feel  their  power.  God  hath  blessed  us  with  all  spiritual 
blessings  in  heavenly  places,  but  all  are  treasured  up  in  Christ 
Jesus,  from  whose  fulness  we  must  draw  grace  for  grace  in 
order  to  enjoy  them.  This  promise  was  made  before  the 
world  began,  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  him  as  the 
mediator,  the  divine  head,  for  the  enjoyment  of  his  believing 
and  adopted  people.  Christ  will  have  all  the  glory  of  every 
promise  which  in  the  realms  of  the  saved  shall  meet  its  ful- 
filment ;  and,  as  we  recount  the  successive  links  of  that  re- 
splendent chain  of  promise,  which  stretches  from  Christ  before 
the  world  began,  and  terminates  in  Christ  after  the  age  is 
closed,  we  shall  joyfully  give  to  him  all  the  glory,  the  honor 
and  the  praise.  The  promise  was  uttered  by  the  Father  as 
the  expression  of  his  infinite  love  ;  it  is  conveyed  through  the 
Son  as  the  only  mediator ;  it  is  applied  to  our  hearts  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God ;  and  thus  a  Triune  Jehovah  has  all  the 
glory,  and  redeemed  and  ransomed  saints  shall  have  all  the 
benefit  of  a  life  blessed  forevermore. 

This  promise  of  eternal  life  made  to  Christ  before  the  world 


THE   BLESSED    PROMISE.  265 

began  was  and  is  not  any  new  creation  of  love  in  God,  but  t-he 
expression  and  the  unfolding  of  a  love  that  was  already  in  him. 
If  God  had  never  promised,  his  love  would  have  been  equally 
certain  ;  if  he  had  never  promised  eternal  life,  it  would,  never- 
theless, have  been  bestowed.  The  promise  is  not  the  creation 
of  a  love  that  was  not,  but  the  expression  audible  to  man  of 
a  love  that  everlastingly  was.  It  is,  if  I  may  so  say,  God's 
love  made  audible.  It  is  a  stream  from  the  deep  and  exhaust- 
less  fountain  of  infinite  paternal  love.  Just  as  the  flowers  of 
the  earth  indicate  its  fertility,  as  the  stars  of  the  heaven  are 
the  exponents  of  its  splendor,  the  promises  of  God,  spread 
over  the  church  like  flowers,  over  the  Bible  like  stars,  are 
the  manifestations  and  the  exponents  of  that  hidden  love  which 
loved  us  before  the  world  began,  and  which  shall  find  its  com- 
pletest  trophy  in  the  salvation  and  the  everlasting  happiness 
of  all  that  open  their  hearts  simply  to  accept  it.  If,  there- 
fore, God  had  not  promised,  his  love  would  have  been  the 
same ;  but  his  giving  a  promise  is  an  evidence  of  that  love 
which,  having  given  Christ  the  chief  thing,  freely  with  him 
also  gives  us  all  things. 

This  promise  of  eternal  life  is  not,  like  the  promises  made 
upon  earth,  precarious,  and  not  to  be  relied  on,  but  sure  and 
certain  ;  or,  in  the  language  of  an  apostle,  "  Yea  and  amen  in 
Christ  Jesus."  The  promises  of  Satan  are  gilded  lies,  plausible 
deceptions  ;  he  never  made  a  promise  that  he  meant  to  keep, 
except  the  keeping  of  the  promise  should  be  power  to  himself 
and  probable  ruin  to  the  creature.  The  promises  of  man  are 
extremely  precarious ;  they  depend  upon  a  thousand  contin- 
gencies. The  promise  made  to-day  he  may  be  unable,  or  he 
may  be  unwilling,  to  keep  to-morrow.  Eut  God's  promises  are 
not  so.  The  apostle  tells  us  God  "  cannot  lie,"  "  God  is  not 
a  man  that  he  should  lie."  Whatever,  therefore,  God  has 
promised,  that  his  faithfulness  will  do.  God  will  never  refuse 
to  do  that  which  he  has  distinctly,  unequivocally  promised 
23 


2G6  THE    BLESSED    PHOMISE. 

What  comfort  is  this  —  "I  give  unto  thera  eternal  life,  and 
none  shall  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand :  "  this  is  true  and 
must  stand,  if  all  the  stars  should  fall  from  their  sockets; 
not  one  syllable  of  that  promise  shall  fail,  though  heaven  and 
earth  should  pass  away.     This  is  the  blessed  life. 

And,  in  the  next  place,  God  cannot  forget.  Man  one  day 
makes  a  promise,  and  next  day  he  forgets  that  he  made  it ; 
but  God  has  no  memory ;  the  past,  the  present  and  the  future, 
are  equally  luminous,  being  one  everlasting  present  before 
the  Almight}'-,  And  man  sometimes,  when  he  makes  a 
promise,  finds  circumstances  change,  his  own  dispositions 
change,  and  sinfully,  but  yet  actually,  he  recedes  from  his 
promise.  But  God  cannot  change ;  he  is  the  same  yesterday, 
to-day,  and  forever  ;  he  is  not  a  man  that  he  should  repent. 

Man  is  sometimes  himself  swept  away  before  the  time  occurs 
that  he  should  make  good  the  promise  that  he  has  given  ;  but 
God  can  never  fail ;  omnipotence,  omnipresence,  endure  for- 
ever ;  he  shall  outlast  all,  none  shall  outlast  him.  Rocks  shall 
be  melted,  valleys  shall  be  raised,  hills  shall  be  levelled,  kings 
shall  fall  from  their  thrones,  the  crowds  shall  rise  in  ven- 
geance, nations  shall  be  convulsed,  and  continents  upheaved  : 
but  not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  the  largest  or  the  least  promise  that 
God  has  made  shall  ever  pass  away,  till  all  be  fulfilled.  This 
promise  came  before  the  world  was ;  it  is  carried  ^on  independ- 
ent of  the  world ;  and  it  will  survive  and  flourish  when  the 
earth  and  the  things  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up. 
Such  is  the  promise  of  eternal  life. 

But,  as  the  fulfilment  of  this  promise  is  not  contingent  upon 
such  incidental  things  as  those  that  I  have  alluded  to,  it  is  also 
not  contingent  upon  our  deserts.  God  made  the  promise  to 
us  in  Christ,  for  Christ's  sake,  in  the  exercise  of  sovereignty ; 
and  when  we  sin,  grievous  as  it  is,  deeply  to  be  deprecated  as  it 
must  be,  yet  it  does  not  make  God  unfaithful  to  his  promise. 
If  God's  love  were  dependent  upon  ours,  it  would  speedily 


THE   BLESSED    PROMISE.  267 

depart ;  if  the  stability  of  God's  promises  were  contingent 
upon  the  stability  of  our  faith,  we  should  never  see  their  ful- 
tihneiit.  But  he  deals  with  us  in  the  exercise  of  glorious 
sovereignty,  follows  us  when  we  forsake  him,  draws  us  to 
himself  by  the  exhibition  of  his  love,  and  binds  us  with  cords 
of  goodness  that  cannot  be  dissolved.  The  promise  of  eternal 
life  does  not  depend  upon  anything  in  the  world,  nor  upon 
anything  that  we  are ;  it  is  made  to  all  that  believe  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  he  that  is  a  living  member  of  that  living  Saviour 
has  a  right  to  all  the  promises  that  are  yea  and  amen  in 
Christ  Jesus. 

Let  us  notice,  however,  the  special  burden  of  the  promise : 
"  In  hope  of  eternal  life,  which  God  hath  promised  before  the 
world  began."  Eternal  life  is  the  burden  of  this  promise; 
It  is  a  spiritual  life  now,  an  eternal  life  hereafter.  Our 
natural  life  begins  at  our  birth,  and  terminates  in  the  grave  ; 
our  eternal  life  begins  at  our  new  birth,  and  never  terminates. 
Every  man  has  a  life  from  which  immortality  is  inseparable. 
There  are  two  great  currents  that  rush  along  the  channels  of 
time,  —  a  current  of  immortal  life,  that  ends  in  that  moaning 
sea  of  sorrow  that  never  has  been  sounded,  and  a  current  of 
spiritual  life,  that  enters,  not  ends,  in  that  ocean  of  joy  which 
is  at  God's  right  hand,  the  chimes  and  the  waves  of  which 
are  pleasures  that  roll  and  flow  forever.  Every  man  must 
live,  forever,  a  life  of  everlasting  suffering,  or  a  life  of  ever- 
lasting joy.  Heaven  and  hell,  to  use  the  popular  expressions 
that  designate  the  future,  are  not  states  into  which  we  are 
mechanically  thrust  at  death,  but  progressions,  begun  in  time, 
and  only  matured  and  developed  throughout  eternity.  Every 
one  has  the  spark  of  heaven,  or  the  worm  of  hell,  in  his  bosom 
at  this  moment,  moving  onward  with  irresistible  progression, 
either  to  an  inheritance  of  joy  incorruptible,  or  to  a  doom 
of  misery  where  God  hath  forgotten  to  be  gracious.  There 
is  no  standing  still,  there  is  no  mid-position ;    there  is  no 


268  THE   BLESSED   PROMISE. 

going  back :  onward  we  must  move.  And  the  most  solemn 
inquiry  that  man  is  called  upon  to  make  is,  What  is  my 
course  ?  in  what  way  am  I  travelling  ?  what  destiny  am  I 
Hearing  ?  what  will  be  my  doom  ?  Is  it  everlasting  life,  the 
burden  of  a  promise  ?  or  eternal  death,  the  burden  of  a  terri-  • 
ble,  but  inevitable  curse  ?  "  The  promise  of  eternal  life  "  is 
life  begun  here. 

This  suggests  the  inquiry,  Are  we  at  this  moment  possessed 
of  that  spiritual  life,  which  is  the  bud  that  is  to  be  unfolded 
in  the  blossom  of  eternal  life,  when  time  and  things  temporal 
shall  be  no  more  at  all  ?  Let  us  test  our  feelings  and  hopes 
by  the  plain  and  unequivocal  characteristics  of  spiritual  and 
eternal  life,  wherever  it  is  realized.  "  He  that  believeth  on 
the  Son,"  says  Jesus,  "  hath  eternal  life."  It  is  not  simply  a 
thing  of  the  future,  but  an  enjoyment  for  the  present.  "  He 
that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  this  eternal  life,  but 
the  wrath  of  God,"  the  only  element  in  its  stead,  "  abideth  on 
him."  If,  then,  as  professed  believers  in  the  Gospel,  we  have 
this  eternal  life,  it  will  be  found  invariably  an  internal  princi- 
ple operating  upon  the  whole  outer  life,  and  never  an  influ- 
ence, a  tone,  a  coloring,  superinduced  from  without.  If  we 
pray  because  we  wish  to  be  seen  to  do  so  of  men,  if  we  give 
alms  in  order  to  get  credit  of  men,  if  the  whole  of  our  charac- 
ter is  shaped  and  toned  by  influences  palpably  without,  and 
not  from  a  great  spring  of  power  or  virtue  within,  we  give  too 
plain  and  unequivocal  proof  that  this  spiritual  life  is  not  ours. 
He  that  has  the  spiritual  life,  has  it  as  a  spring  of  living  water 
within,  that  overflows  the  whole  of  his  outer  conduct  and 
intercourse  with  society ;  and  he  that  has  but  the  semblance 
of  it,  a  name  to  live  by  whilst  he  is  dead,  is  made  what  he 
looks,  not  by  a  force  from  within,  but  wholly  and  simply  by 
conventionalism,  or  influence  from  without. 

Wherever  this  spiritual  life  is,  it  will  exhibit  its  existence 
by  the  attributes  of  life.     A  healthy  man  feels  hungry,  and 


THE   BLESSED   PROMISE.  269 

he  must  have  bread;  thirsty,  and  he  must  have  water  to 
drink.  And,  if  we  have  this  spiritual  life,  we  shall  hunger 
for  living  bread,  and  thirst  for  living  water.  A  hungry  man 
will  not  be  satisfied  with  a  stone ;  if  he  ask  for  a  fish,  he  will 
not  accept  a  serpent;  if  he  ask  for  bread,  he  will  not  eat 
stone.  And,  if  you  are  spiritual  and  living  men,  you  will  not 
wait  upon  the  ministry  of  a  man  who  feeds  you  with  husks, 
and  not  wheat ;  who  gives  you  the  traditions  of  men,  and  not 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel ;  and  tries  to  satisfy  the  great  and 
hungry  heart  of  humanity  with  a  stone  for  bread,  a  serpent 
for  a  fish,  a  scorpion  for  an  egg.  Do  you  come  to  the  sanc- 
tuary hungry  for  bread  ?  Can  you  love  the  Gospel,  though 
conveyed  in  the  simplest  and  least  attractive  formulas  ?  It 
is  always  a  sign  of  a  very  sickly  appetite  when  one  needs  to 
add  to  his  food  spices  and  stimulants.  It  is  no  less  evidence 
of  a  very  feeble  life,  if  life  there  be,  when  we  cannot  hear  the 
plain  truths  of  the  Gospel  except  they  be  adorned  with  the 
flowers  of  eloquence,  or  tricked  out  with  the  gaudy  ornaments 
of  human  rhetoric.  The  farmer  likes  a  field  that  is  filled 
with  corn,  not  one  that  grows  with  resplendent  poppies ;  he 
likes  grass  that  is  pure  grass,  fit  for  the  service  of  the  beast 
upon  the  hills,  not  that  which  is  mixed  with  buttercups. 
When  we  come  to  the  sanctuary,  it  is  not  flowers  we  want,  to 
be  a  bouquet  of  beauty ;  but  food  to  sustain  our  souls,  and 
strengthen  us  for  the  toil,  and  the  travail,  and  the  trials  of  the 
week.  If,  therefore,  we  have  this  spiritual  life,  we  shall  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  bread ;  and  we  shall  not  go  to 
spend  our  time  for  that  which  is  not  bread,  and  our  attention 
for  that  which  profiteth  not. 

If  we  have  this  spiritual  life,  which  is  the  germ  of  eternal 
life,  it  will  unfold  itself  in  action.  The  evidence  of  a  dead 
man  is,  that  the  lungs  do  not  move,  the  eyes  do  not  open,  the 
hands  are  not  lifted,  the  feet  are  motionless.  The  evidence 
of  a  living  man,  spiritually  living,  is  action.  Wherever  there 
23=^ 


270  THE   ELESSED   PROMISE. 

is  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul,  there  will  be  prayer.  Prayer 
is  a  Christian's  vital  air  ;  it  is  the  breath  of  his  soul.  A 
praying  man,  truly  praying,  must  be  a  living  man ;  and  no 
living  man  ever  endured  without  prayer.  He  will  not  only 
pray,  but  he  will  praise,  he  will  walk  in  God's  ways,  his" 
hands  will  be  employed  in  God's  service  ;  he  will  demonstrate 
that  there  is  life  within  by  devotedness,  self-sacrifice,  liber- 
ality, consistency,  without. 

The  first  thing  man  needs  is  life  ;  the  next  thing  is  pre- 
scription for  the  development  of  that  life.  If  a  person 
receives  life,  he  will  walk ;  and  we  need  not  trouble  a  man 
who  is  dead  to  speak,  or  to  point  out  the  way  to  a  city  of 
habitation.  The  first  thing  we  need  is  life  from  God,  and 
the  next  thing  is  a  prescription  of  the  way  in  which  we  are 
to  walk.  Socinianism  presents  Christianity  simply  as  a  direct- 
ory, and  forgets  that  man  is  dead.  Evangelical  religion 
appeals  to  God,  first  for  fire  from  the  altar  that  man  may 
live,  and  then  it  lays  down  the  course  in  which  man  is  to 
walk. 

This  spiritual  life  will  be  characterized  by  another  feature, 
namely,  sensibility.  To  a  Christian  man,  sin  is  pain,  holiness 
is  pleasure.  To  a  dead  man's  flesh  the  point  of  the  sword 
would  convey  no  pain  ;  to  a  living  man's  finger  the  prick  of 
a  pin  would  inflict  a  pang  felt  throughout  the  system. 
Wherever,  therefore,  the  soul  is  alive  by  the  possession  of 
this  eternal  life,  it  will  be  sensible  to  that  which  does  violence 
to  it,  and  it  will  rejoice  in  that  which  augments  its  happiness 
and  unfolds  its  nature.  If,  therefore,  we  be  spiritually  alive, 
if  we  are  alive  in  God,  if  this  promise  is  anything  in  our 
experience,  we  shall  have  the  sensibilities  and  the  sympathies 
of  spiritual  life. 

This  life  lives  in  every  latitude,  maintains  its  vitality  in 
every  phase  of  human  experience.  It  is  a  characteristic  of 
human  life  that  it  can  acclimate  itself.     Man  can  live  amid 


THE   BLESSED   PROMISE.  271 

tho  polar  snows,  or  under  equatorial  suns,  there  being  in  life 
that  wonderful  power  of  adaptation  which  enables  him  to  find 
his  home  wherever  on  the  surface  of  the  globe  Providence 
may  place  him.  What  is  true  of  this  animal  life  is  no  less 
so  of  this  spiritual  life.  It  will  flourish  in  adversity,  it  will 
triumph  in  prosperity,  and  will  maintain  its  strength  and  its 
functions  unimpaired  in  the  tents  of  Mesech  and  the  taberna- 
cles of  Kedar,  or  in  the  palace  of  Pharaoh,  or  in  the  court  of 
the  Ethiopian  queen,  or  in  the  Basilica  of  Nero.  It  matters 
not  in  what  outward  circumstances  a  Christian  may  be 
placed ;  he  either  defies  them  and  lives  to  God,  or  he  sub- 
dues them  and  makes  them  the  willing  exponents  of  his  mind, 
or  he  turns  them  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  to  the  benefit  of 
those  with  whom  he  is  associated  in  life. 

Have  we  this  spiritual  life,  hid,  it  may  be,  now,  with 
Christ  in  God,  but  sure  to  be  developed,  when  time  and 
things  temporal  shall  be  no  more,  in  eternal  life,  the  promise 
of  which  was  made  before  the  world  began  ?  The  possession 
of  this  life  is  what  we  are  here  for ;  the  loss  of  this  life  is 
the  loss  of  happiness ;  the  gain  of  it  is  the  greatest  gain  that 
man  can  make,  for  "  what  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall 
gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  immortal  soul  ?  " 

But  this  life,  which  I  have  said  is  the  burden  of  a  promise, 
is,  also,  in  the  next  place,  and  the  last  place,  stated  to  be  the 
object  of  hope.  •'  In  hope  of  eternal  life,  which  God  hath 
promised."  The  promise  is  the  husk ;  eternal  life  is  the 
living  seed  within  ;  hope  is  the  hand  that  lays  hold  of  it,  and 
feeds  on  it.  What,  then,  is  that  hope  which  seizes  this 
eternal  life  which  God  laid  up  in  the  promise  before  the 
world  began  ?  There  is  a  distinction  between  faith  and 
hope ;  —  faith  is  essential  to  a  man's  safety  ;  hope  is  insepar- 
able from  a  Christian's  comfort.  If  you  have  no  faith,  you 
have  no  Christianity  ;  if  you  have  no  hope,  you  have  no 
enjoyment  of  that   Christianity.     Faith   grasps   every  truth 


272  THE   BLESSED    PROMISE. 

embosomed  in  a  doctrine  ;  hope  seizes  every  joy  contained  in 
a  promise.  Faith  takes  whatever  is  true  that  Grod  has  placed 
in  his  word ;  hope  takes  whatever  is  bright  and  happy  which 
God  has  embosomed  in  the  promises.  The  basket  of  doctrine 
holds  the  truth  that  faith  feeds  on ;  the  cup  of  a  promise 
holds  the  joyful  and  exhilarating  draught  that  hope  thank- 
fully drinks.  The  one,  that  is,  faith,  leans  upon  the  word  of 
God ;  the  other,  that  is,  hope,  leans  upon  the  promises  of 
God.  What  God  has  promised  to  do  is  what  hope  looks  at ; 
what  God  has  declared  he  has  done  is  what  faith  leans  on. 
Faith  lives  on  the  past  and  the  present ;  hope  lives  on  the 
future ;  and  faith  and  hope  take  the  whole,  past,  present,  and 
future.  Hence,  faith  draws  nutriment  from  the  past  into  the 
present ;  hope  draws  nutriment  from  the  future  into  the  pres- 
ent ;  both  bring  their  nutriment  from  afar,  —  the  one  from  the 
past,  and  the  other  from  the  future.  Faith  spreads  its  wing 
and  alights  upon  the  glorious  sentiments,  "  God  .so  loved  the 
world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  on  him  might  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life;"  "He  that  knew  no  sin  was  made  sin  for  us,  that  we 
might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him  ;  "  "  The 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanses  from  all  sin."  Faith  rests 
upon  these,  feeds  upon  them,  and  we,  being  justified,  have 
peace  with  God.  Hope,  on  the  other  hand,  spreads  its  wing, 
and  soars  onward  into  the  future;  reads  of  "  a  city  that  hath 
foundations,"  "  a  better  country,"  "  a  rest  that  remaineth 
for  the  people  of  God,"  "  an  inheritance  incorruptible  and 
undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away ;  "  and  thus  it  is  filled 
with  joy  unutterable  and  full  of  glory.  Faith  looks  back  to 
the  cross,  hope  looks  forward  to  the  crown  ;  faith  and  hope 
look  to  one  Christ,  —  the  one  to  Christ  as  the  sufierer,  the 
other  to  Christ  as  the  conqueror,  but  to  each,  as  to  both, 
Christ  is  all  and  in  all. 

If  there  be  this  distinction  between  the  natures  of  faith 


THE   BLESSED   PROMISE.  273 

and  hope,  there  is  none  in  their  certainty.  What  a  man 
spiritually  hopes  for  is  just  as  certain  as  what  a  man  spiritu 
ally  believes  in.  It  is  no  more  certain  that  Christ  died  than 
that  Christ  will  come  again  ;  it  is  not  one  whit  more  certain 
that  Christ  endured  the  cross  than  that  he  will  wear  the 
crown ;  and,  therefore,  the  hope  that  anticipates  the  glorious 
crown  is  just  as  sure  as  the  faith  that  looks  back  and  rests 
upon  the  cross  on  which  Jesus  died.  Yet  this  is  not  the 
world's  idea  ;  it  speaks  of  hope  as  an  airy  vision,  it  talks  of 
blasted  hopes,  of  disappointed  expectations,  of  things  airy  as 
hope.  The  word  of  God  has  no  such  language  ;  it  speaks  of 
hope  as  a  helmet  for  the  head,  as  an  anchor  sure  and  stead- 
fast within  the  vail,  at  which  we  may  ride  secure  amid  the 
storms  of  comino;  asres ;  and  when  the  waves  are  most  tumult- 
uous  and  troubled,  lift  up  our  heads,  knowing  that  our 
redemption  draweth  nigh,  ' 

Thus  there  is  a  promise  sovereign  in  its  origin,  a  burden 
or  the  contents  of  that  promise,  —  eternal  life,  and  something 
that  lays  hold  of  it,  —  the  grace  of  hope.  But  when  the 
future  age  shall  arrive,  this  hope,  so  certain  now,  shall  be 
dissolved,  and  this  faith,  so  precious  now,  shall  be  lost  in 
fruition.  In  the  future  there  shall  be  nothing  to  believe,  for 
all  will  be  seen,  heard,  and  tasted ;  and  there  shall  be  noth- 
ing to  be  hoped  for,  for  all  its  splendor  and  glory  shall  be 
fully  come.  Faith  has  in  it  now  something  of  love, — 
"  Whom  having  not  seen  we  love,  and  in  whom,  though  now 
we  see  him  not,  yet  believing  we  rejoice."  Hope  likewise 
has  in  it  something  of  love.  But  when  the  last  day  comes  in 
the  last  age,  and  the  new  world  shall  begin,  then  faith  and 
hope  shall  be  consumed  in  the  flames  of  love,  willing,  devoted, 
and  rejoicing  victims.  There  shall  be  no  space  in  heaven  for 
faith ;  there  shall  be  no  space  in  heaven  for  hope  ;  love  shall 
fill  all  the  interstices  of  the  human  heart.  Having  ceased  to 
believe,  and  there  being  no  necessity  to  hope,  we  shall  love 


274  TIIE   BLESSED    PROMISE. 

with  all  the  heart,  and  all  the  soul,  and  all  the  strength ; 
and,  so  loving,  live  on  a  higher  and  brighter  table-land  the 
blessed  of  life. 

Let  us  walk  as  the  possessors  of  such  hope ;  let  us  live 
above  the  world,  where  our  heart  and  our  treasure  is ;  whilst 
in  the  world,  let  us  not  be  of  it ;  in  the  language  of  an  apos- 
tle who  has  described  what  the  promises  of  God  are  fitted  to 
do,  "  Whereby  are  given  to  us  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises," — for  this  end,  —  "  that  by  these  ye  might  be  par- 
takers of  the  divine  nature,  having  escaped  the  corruption 
that  is  in  the  world  through  sin."  Let  us,  as  possessors  of 
these  promises,  sure  and  steadfast,  live  as  the  glorious  expect- 
ants of  immortality,  where  our  hopes  and  our  anticipations 
are,  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  in  the  presence  of  that  glory 
which  is  unspeakable  and  full  of  joy,  into  which,  if  there  be 
any  truth  in  what  faith  believes,  if  there  be  any  certainty  in 
what  hope  cherishes,  we,  as  possessed  of  the  blessed  life  now, 
shall  be  admitted  into  the  full  realization  of  eternal  life, 
without  suspension  and  without  end. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

WORDS   OF   ETERNAL   LIFE. 

*'  Lord  of  all  that 's  fair  to  see. 
Come,  reveal  thyself  to  me. 
Let  me,  'mid  thy  radiant  light, 
View  thine  unveiled  glories  bright. 
Let  thy  Deity  profound 
Me  in  heart  and  soul  surround  ; 
From  my  mind  its  idols  chase, 
And  wean  from  words  of  time  and  place." 

**  Then  Simon  Peter  answered  him,  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  1  thou 
hast  the  words  of  eternal  life."  —  Johx  6  :  68. 

Man  has  sought  such  words  in  the  height  and  in  the  depth, 
in  the  past  and  in  the  present,  but  he  has  not  found  them ; 
no  accents  of  life  have  sounded  in  the  hearing  of  any  who 
have  not  sat  at  the  feet,  and  listened  to  the  teaching,  of  the 
Son  of  God.  Man's  great  desire  is  to  find  some  such  intima- 
tion as  is  contained  in  these  words.  We  see  time  rushing 
past  us  with  the  speed  of  a  torrent ;  we  feel  ourselves  borne 
upon  its  surface,  and,  untaught  by  the  Gospel,  we  know  not 
what  is  the  nature  of  that  unsounded  depth  to  which  we  and 
it  are  approaching.  We  ask  ourselves,  when  we  soberly  and 
quietly  look  about  us,  What  are  we  ?  What  is  our  place 
here  ?  Am  I  a  mere  bubble  on  the  surface  ?  is  life  a  mere 
eddy  in  the  current  ?  Is  that  future  which  I  must  face,  and 
which  seems  to  roll  inward  every  moment  like  a  great  ocean, 
annihilation  ?     Is  death  everlasting  silence, —  eternal  separa- 


276  WORDS   OF   ETERNAL   LIFE. 

tion  from  those  I  love,  —  the  extinction  of  hopes  I  have 
cherished  in  my  heart,  and  of  images  that  are  there  as  in  a 
picture-gallery  I  must  resist  letting  go  ?  Do  I  lie  down  like 
the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  when  I  cease  to  be,  and  to  breathe, 
does  this  wonderful  structure,  this  far-grasping  intellect,  this 
soul  of  illimitable  desires,  this  nature  of  boundless  capacities, 
lie  down  in  the  dust,  and  cease  to  be  ?  These  are  questions 
\hat  have  been  often  asked  in  the  past,  and  are  asked  still 
oftener  now.  There  is  not  a  sober  mind  on  earth  that  can 
sequester  itself  from  the  din,  the  bustle,  and  the  interests  of 
the  world,  over  whom  these  thoughts  do  not  pass,  and  in  the 
secret  depths  of  which  questions  such  as  these  are  not  cease- 
lessly and  earnestly  suggested.  And,  if  it  is  not  to  be 
annihilation,  if  time  is  only  the  preface  to  eternity,  if 
there  be  a  future,  what  is  the  way  to  that  future,  and  what 
is  its  nature  ?  Will  there  be  universal  restoration,  whatever 
be  the  ruin,  or  will  there  be  universal  condemnation,  what- 
ever be  the  worth  ?  Is  there  penalty  in  the  future  following 
crime  in  the  present,  as  echo  follows  sound  ?  Are  there  thrones 
of  glory  there  ?  and,  if  so,  who  sits  upon  them  ?  Are  there 
joys  at  God's  right  hand  ?  and,  if  so,  who  tastes  them  ?  Are 
there  any  questions  equal  to  these  in  importance  —  is  there 
anything  that  so  immensely  concerns  us  ?  Is  not  that  man 
awfully  besotted  by  this  world's  cares,  anxieties,  ambitions, 
passions,  who  does  not  ask,  yearning  for  satisfaction,  What 
am  I  ?  Where  am  I  going  ?  Can  I  hear  at  any  oracle  one 
sweet  sound  of  eternal  life,  to  tell  me  that  I  am  not  a  cast-off 
creature,  —  that  this  world  is  not  an  orphan  orb,  —  that  there 
is  a  joyous  land  beyond  the  stars,  and  that  the  way  to  it  is 
so  plain  that  the  wayfaring  man  need  not  err  therein  ?  Ask 
philosophy  if  it  can  tell  you  the  way,  and  it  is  dumb  ;  ask 
exhausted  Judaism,  —  the  tabernacle,  the  mercy-seat,  the 
cherubim,  Moses,  Bezaleel,  Aaron,  —  and  they  are  dumb. 
Nature,  once  eloquent  in  Eden,  is  silent,  and  can  give  you  no 


WORDS    OF    ETERNAL    LIFE.  277 

answer ;  conscience  tells  you  there  is  something  wrong,  and 
it  is  too  much  a  fearful  looking  for  judgment  and  condemna- 
tion. Plato  can  guess,  Socrates  can  hope,  Cicero  will  resolve  ; 
but,  blessed  Jesus,  thou  only  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life  ! 

Wh(in  Peter  addressed  our  Lord  in  these  words,  he  acted 
as  the  spokesman  of  all,  and  uttered,  not  a  personal  and  pri- 
vate and  peculiar  sentiment,  but  a  feeling  that  rose  from  the 
heart  of '  Jiumanity,  and  found  its  expression  by  his  lips.  The 
poor  disciples,  though  they  erred  often,  and  wavered  in  their 
faith,  yet  shrunk  back  with  horror  at  the  very  idea  of  sepa- 
ration from  Christ.  He  alone  had  taught  them  when  no  one 
beside  was  able  or  willing ;  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  brood  un- 
der her  wings,  so  had  Jesus  gathered  and  collected  them  ;  be 
had  pitied  their  errors,  corrected  their  mistakes,  forgiven  their 
sins ;  and  the  very  thought  of  separation  was  terrible,  as  if 
they  had  said,  "  Blessed  Lord,  thou  hast  been  our  support, 
our  teacher,  our  hope,  our  joy ;  if  thou  departest,  we  shall  be 
like  branches  broken  from  the  vine — prostrate,  bleeding  upon 
the  earth,  without  a  home,  without  a  hope,  without  a  found- 
ation of  any  sort.  Leave  us  not,  nor  forsake  us ;  for  to 
whom  can  we  go  ?  Thou  only  hast  what  is  music  in  our  ear 
—  the  words  of  eternal  life." 

There  are  seasons  when  these  words  will  be  the  sentiments 
of  every  true  Christian,  more  or  less  prominently,  in  this  present 
world  ;  and  it  is  by  looking  at  some. of  these  seasons  that  we  shail 
see  the  words  in  their  own  beautiful  and  holy  light,  and  dis- 
cover how  much  more  of  precious  truth  is  in  them  than  meets 
the  eye  or  the  ear  when  first  read  or  spoken.  We  sometimes 
look  around  us  in  this  world,  and  we  see  perplexities  that 
tease  us,  and  defy  every  possible  solution.  How  often  do  we 
see  one  struggling  with  ceaseless  poverty  whose  ingenuous  and 
noble  character  seems  to  us  so  little  to  deserve  so  sad  a  lot ! 
We  see,  again,  another  surrounded  with  all  the  affluence  of 
the  earth,  but  who  seems  of  all  men  the  least  to  deserve  it 
24 


278  WORDS    OF    ETERNAL    LIFE. 

We  see  innocence  bowed  to  the  dust,  and  guilt  triumphant 
and  ascendant.  We  see  hate,  passion,  intemperance,  some- 
times succeed;  and  integrity  and  moral  worth  sometimes 
suffer  ;  and  we  ask,  How  is  this  possible  ?  If  there  be  a  God, 
holy,  just,  true,  who  governs  the  world,  how  can  these  things 
be?  Such  a  question  is  neither  strange  nor  new.  The 
Psalmist  once  saw  the  same  thing,  and  his  feet  stumbled,  and 
he  began  to  say,  Then  religion  is  vain;  I  have  washed  my 
hands  in  innocence  in  vain ;  the  whole  horizon  is  black,  the 
earth  is  chaos.  Providence  must  be  a  dream.  "  Until,"  he 
says,  "  I  went  into  the  sanctuary — then  understood  I  their 
end."  Then  this  world-drama  is  not  the  close;  things  as 
they  are  are  not  normal ;  another  day  comes,  when  all  shall  be 
adjusted  and  put  right.  This  world,  without  a  day  of  judg- 
ment to  close  it  and  to  crown  it,  would  be  like  a  pyramid 
without  its  apex,  like  the  human  body  without  its  head — im- 
perfect, unnatural,  monstrous,  incomplete.  But  Jesus  tells 
us  that  a  day  comes  when  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  all 
hearts,  and  all  things  shall  be  put  in  their  right  light,  and  all 
character  shall  meet  its  just  destiny ;  and  all  the  things  of 
the  world  shall  be  so  explained  and  set  before  us  that  we  shall 
see  there  was  a  God,  and  that  the  temporary  chaos  was  only 
the  prelude  or  the  inevitable  preface  to  a  more  lasting  and 
glorious  harmony.  It  is  thus  that  we  find  in  this  book, 
which  contains  the  words  of  eternal  life,  the  solution  of  diffi- 
culties that  would  otherwise  overwhelm  us  ;  it  is  a  light  at 
the  end  of  a  dark  and  winding  tunnel,  which  satisfies  us  that 
all  is  now  under  the  providential  control,  and  that  all  will 
end  in  the  glory  of  God. 

There  are  other  times  when  the  soul  of  man  is  full  of  deep 
and  anxious  thoughts  ;  even  when  it  goes  furthest  from  God, 
it  feels  often  wants  that  the  mere  body  cannot  satisfy,  hopes 
and  fears  which  nothing  upon  this  earth  can  scatter.  There 
are   times  when  you  begin  to  find  out  that  what  you  once 


WORDS    OF    ETERNAL    LIFE.  279 

thouglit  shadows  are  solemn  and  gloomy  realities.  Under 
some  desolating  stroke,  have  we  not  felt  all  seemingly  mist 
and  shadow  around,  and  all  emptiness  above  ?  And  have  we 
not  then  been  conscious  of  a  hunger  that  this  world's  bread 
cannot  satisfy;  of  a  thirst  that  this  world's  springs  cannot 
remove;  of  necessities,  of  an  aching  emptiness  of  soul,  that 
is  at  once  the  prophecy  of  a  grand  supply,  and  the  evidence 
to  us  that  something  has  gone  sadly,  if  not  vitally,  wrong  ? 
We  are  out,  perhaps,  amid  the  scenes  of  nature;  we  look 
above  us,  and  the  very  silence  of  a  starry  night  seems  almost 
to  suggest  to  us  questions  deeper  and  profounder  than  nature 
can  ever  answer,  but  to  which  there  tire  blessed  replies  in  this 
holy  word  of  God.  We  then  feel  there  is  something  greater 
than  the  world;  something  more  lasting  than  its  machinery; 
some  one  above  it  that  made  it,  some  one  in  it  that  con- 
trols it.  What  is  that  ?  Who  is  this  ?  We  refer  to  Chi-ist ; 
he  alone  has  the  words  of  eternal  life. 

But  there  is  another  state  in  which  the  soul  often  finds  it- 
self. We  have  had  hours  of  deep  and  penetrating  conviction 
of  sin.  We  look  back  upon  the  past  period  of  our  life,  and 
the  lightning  of  Sinai  shines  upon  the  tablets  of  the  soul,  and 
makes  legible  and  visible  life's  past  and  hidden  misdoings ; 
our  own  conscience  speaks  from  the  depths  of  the  soul,  and 
reasons  of  righteousness,  and  temperance,  and  judgment.  I 
cannot  see  that  I  have  been  a  drunkard,  or  a  robber,  or  a 
murderer ;  but  I  do  feel  that  I  have  lived  for  self,  for  the 
world,  or,  for  what  seems  more  amiable,  society,  or,  what 
seems  still  better,  to  do  temporal  good  to  others ;  but  I  do 
feel  that  God  has  not  been  in  all  my  thoughts,  that  the  first 
commandment  of  the  law  I  have  thus  trodden  under  foot, 
forgotten,  neglected,  or  positively  despised ;  and  I  am  con- 
strained to  ask,  what  the  thoughtless  sometimes  ask,  in  the 
prospect  of  a  future,  in  the  precarious  uncertainty  of  life,  in 
the  consciousness  of  somethins;  higher  than  the  life  that  now 


280  WORDS    OF    ETERNAL    LIFE. 

is,  How  stall  I  appear  before  God? — wherewithal  shall  I  come 
before  the  Most  High  ?  I  am  a  simier ;  will  God  forgive  me  ? 
I  am  guilty ;  is  there  pardon  for  my  trespasses  ?  And,  if  there 
be  pardon,  who  can  assure  me  of  it  ?  if  there  be  a  sin-forgiv- 
ing God,  who  can  convince  me  of  this  ?  In  that  blessed  book, 
which  grows  not  old  with  years, — which  is  the  oracle  in  which 
Christ  still  speaks,  on  whose  brow  there  are  no  wrinkles, — 
which  the  age  is  far  behind,  and  has  never  yet  got  beyond, — 
I  read  of  One  who  said  words  of  eternal  life,  "  Go  and  sin  no 
more."  I  read  the  history  of  a  prodigal  who  came  from  the 
midst  of  estrangement  and  aj)ostasy,  and,  instead  of  finding  in 
his  father's  house  the  preparation  for  his  punishment,  found 
ready  for  his  reception  a  joyous  festival.  I  read  in  that 
blessed  book  of  One  who  says  that  he  has  power  to  forgive 
sins ;  and,  hearing  such  tidings  as  these,  I  go,  not  to  the  min- 
ister, not  to  the  priest,  not  to  the  teaching  of  Christ,  not  to 
the  precepts  of  Christ,  but  to  Christ  himself,  and  I  say,  "  G 
thou  who  didst  receive  the  prodigal,  wilt  thou  refuse  me  ? 
Thou  who  didst  say  to  the  woman  caught  in  sin,  '  Neither  do 
I  condemn  thee  ;  go  and  sin  no  more,'  is  there  not  forgiveness 
for  me  ?  Thou  who  hast  power  to  forgive  sins,  am  I  exempt 
—  am  I  set  aside,  and  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  it?" 
These  words  were  spoken,  not  for  the  first  century,  nor  for  the 
second,  nor  for  the  tenth,  nor  for  the  sixteenth,  but  for  the 
nineteenth,  and  for  all  ages  and  for  all  persons :  "  Whosoever 
will,  let  him  come  and  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely," — ■ 
that  is,  let  him  come  and  be  freely  pardoned,  fully  sanctified, 
and  made  fit  for  heaven  and  for  happiness.  And  when  I  go 
to  Christ,  in  trustfiil  faith,  I  find  in  him,  not  a  cold  teacher,  a 
distant  sovereign,  with  silent  reserve,  like  the  official  men  of 
this  world,  who  are  obliged  to  hedge  themselves  round  with  a 
thousand  repulsive  points,  but  whose  very  official  dignity  is 
only  to  us  a  proof  that  the  greatest  upon  earth  must  not  be 
too  nearly  and  closely  looked  at,  lest  they  be  found  to  be  like 


WORDS   OF    ETERNAL    LIFE.  281 

other  men, — not  the  cold  reserve  of  a  distant  king,  not  the 
mere  guidance  of  a  teacher,  but  one  who  was  in  all  points 
tempted  as  we  are, — who  is  able  to  sympathize  with  us,  who 
has  wisdom  to  teach  us,  who  has  love  to  engage  in  teaching 
us ;  in  him  and  from  him  I  hear  the  words  of  eternal  life,  and 
to  him  I  go,  and,  justified  by  faith,  I  have  peace  with  God 
through  Christ  Jesus. 

It  will  suggest  itself  also — especially  in  these  days  of  divi- 
sion, separation  and  dispute,  when  Christian  men  of  different 
sections  of  the  church  seem,  alas !  to  try  to  discover  in  how 
many  points  they  differ,  and  to  conceal  and  lose  sight  of  the 
blessed  and  glorious  ones  in  which  they  agree.  You  hear  of 
schism  here,  dispute  there,  separation  elsewhere ;  you  hear 
sounding  from  one  side,  "  You  must  join  us,  or  you  will  never 
get  to  heaven."  You  hear  proclaimed  from  another  part, 
"  Unless  you  pronounce  the  same  Shibboleth,  and  say  it  in 
our  way,  you  have  no  chance  of  ever  enjoying  happiness  here- 
after ;  "  and  an  inquiring  and  an  anxious  mind,  hearing  so 
many  different  opinions,  listening  to  so  many  conflicting  sects, 
is  bewildered  and  puzzled.  Your  feet  almost  slip,  and  you 
say,  "  There  is  a  good  man  of  that  party ;  here  is  a  great 
man  of  another ;  — I  wonder  if  I  am  right;  shall  I  join  this 
party,  shall  I  go  to  that  ?  "  The  solution  of  your  difficulty  is 
a  very  simple  one.  Salvation  is  not  incorporation  with  a 
church,  but  union  with  Christ,  the  head  of  the  church  universal. 
You  are  not  to  go  to  a  prelate  or  priest,  or  a  synod  or  a  pres- 
bytery, for  the  words  of  eternal  life ;  you  are  to  go  to  Christ, 
for  he  alone  has  them.  The  way  to  heaven  is  not  a  church, 
but  Christ;  it  is  not  one  whit  nearer  to  heaven  through  a 
Protestant  church  than  it  is  through  a  Romish  chapel.  The 
way  to  heaven  is  not  through  a  church,  or  a  chapel,  or  a 
cathedral,  or  a  meeting-house,  at  all ;  it  is  by  Christ  Jesus 
alone ;  and  if  you  belong  to  him,  you  may  be  perfectly  satis- 
fied that  you  belong  to  the  true  church ;  and  if  you  do  not 
24^ 


282  WORDS   OF   ETERNAL   LIFE. 

belong  to  him,  by  union  with  him  in  living  and  true  and 
fruitful  faith,  you  may  worship  in  a  cathedral,  or  in  a  chapel, 

—  you  may  belong  to  the  church  of  ecclesiastics,  the  most 
quarrelsome  church  of  all,  or  to  the  meeting  of  "  Friends,", 
the  quietest  of  all, — but  you  do  not  belong  to  the  church  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Therefore,  shut  your  ears  to  the  din 
of  ecclesiastics,  put  outside  the  door  altogether  the  sound  of 
contentious  words ;  and  in  silence  and  in  quiet  open  this 
blessed  book,  and  hear,  not  what  Paul  says  even,  or  what 
Apollos  says,  or  what  this  rabbi  thinks,  or  what  that  divine 
believes,  but  hear  what  Christ  says ;  for  thou,  blessed  Jesus, 
alone  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life. 

There  are  other  seasons,  also,  in  the  experience  of  us  all, 

—  seasons  of  severe  and  painful  affliction,  when  we  have  lost 
all  that  we  had  treasured  or  desired  in  the  world,  and  feel 
indeed  that  we  are  desolate.  In  a  world  where  mercantile 
enterprise  meets  with  so  many  sad  and  unexpected  reversals, 
there  is  not  a  day  that  shuts  down  upon  this  great  metropolis 
that  does  not  end  on  hearts  that  were  bright  and  hopeful  at 
dawn,  but  are  desolate,  and  lonely,  and  sorrowful,  at  night. 
In  one  street  one  is  left  an  orphan,  without  a  friend  or  a 
sympathy  in  the  world ;  in  another,  there  is  a  widow  weeping 
with  her  children,  knowing  not  where  to  find  to-morrow's 
bread  or  this  day's  raiment.  In  such  circumstances  as  these, 
what  can  comfort  ?  By  all  means  supply  the  loss  as  you  are 
able ;  sympathy,  brotherly  love.  Christian  liberality,  will 
induce  you  to  make  the  attempt ;  but  remember,  in  the 
orphan's  heart,  and  in  the  widow's  soul,  and  in  the  sufferer's 
mind,  there  is  a  word  that  will  go  deeper  than  any  that  man 
can  utter,  and  that  blessed  word  falls  from  the  lips  of  Jesus ; 
he  has  words  that  will  comfort,  he  can  give  a  peace  that  will 
pass  understanding,  he  can  bind  up  the  broken  heart,  and 
give  beauty  for  ashes,  and  make  the  widow's  soul  to  sing  for 

joy- 


WORDS    OY   ETERNAL    LIFE.  2oO 

There  are  times,  too,  in  the  experience  of  us  all,  —  some- 
times at  least  in  this  world,  —  when  we  are  the  subjects  of 
painful  and  of  bitter  bereavement.  At  such  an  hour,  when 
some  beloved  one  is  taken  away,  in  whom  your  hopes,  your 
affections,  your  joys  in  this  world,  were  garnered  up,  —  at 
that  moment,  when  no  anxious  look  can  start  the  rigid  eye- 
lid, no  agonizing  question,  "  Is  it  well  with  thee  in  the  future 
world  ?"  will  open  the  frozen  lips, — when  all  is  silence,  how- 
ever earnestly  you  question,  —  what,  at  such  an  hour,  can 
give  comfort  ?  The  dead  cannot  speak,  the  living  cannot 
comfort ;  when  the  mere  worldling  comes  and  tries  to  speak 
comfort,  you  could  wish  that  he  were  many  miles  away.  In 
the  hour  of  the  deepest  desolation,  when  all  earthly  grandeur 
seems  empty,  and  all  earthly  wealth  is  worthless,  I  do  not 
know  any  words  that  are  worth  hearing,  except  the  words  of 
Christ,  "  Thy  brother  shall  live  again,"  —  "I  am  the  resur- 
rection and  the  life  :  he  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were 
dead,  yet  shall  he  live,"  —  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die 
in  the  Lord ;  they  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their  works  do 
follow  them."  At  such  an  hour  we  find  in  the  book  a  com- 
fort in  its  words,  a  power  in  its  lessons,  a  music  in  its  hopes 
and  consolations,  that  makes  all  else  appear  poor,  and  empty, 
and  worthless,  in  comparison. 

When  that  hour  comes  to  us,  that  comes  to  all,  —  when 
we,  too,  the  youngest,  and  the  strongest,  and  the  healthiest 
of  my  readers,  must  see  and  feel  pass  over  us  the  shadow  of 
fatal  disease,  or  imminent  death ;  the  brow  fevered,  the  pulse 
quickened,  and  all  presentiments  of  what  must  receive  us  — 
the  house  appointed  for  all  living,  —  what  is  it  at  such  an 
hour  that  can  really  comfort  us  ?  What  is  it  in  such  a  mo- 
ment that  can  give  peace  ?  Nothing,  nothing  upon  earth,  but 
the  words  of  eternal  life.  That  individual  who  would  try 
to  hush  this  sweet  sound  is  cruel  indeed  ;  the  man  that  would 
try  to  take  from  my  heart  this  blessed  balm  is  indeed  to  be 


284  WORDS    OF    ETERNAL    LIFE. 

pitied  by  us,  —  he  must  surely  be  condemned  of  God.  Take 
away  from  me  these  words,  shut  the  Bible,  clasp  it,  tear  it 
from  me,  —  to  whom  can  I  go  ?  The  Speaker  of  the  words 
of  eternal  life  is  there  only. 

Thus,  at  whatever  phase  of  human  experience  we  look 
into,  whatever  portion  of  human  life  we  penetrate,  we  must 
see  that,  in  all  time  of  its  tribulation,  in  all  time  of  its 
weeping,  in  the  hour  of  the  loss  of  those  we  love,  and  in  the 
hour  that  ushers  in  our  own  departure  to  another  world, 
there  is  repose  and  consolation  in  Christ  only ;  and,  like  the 
dove  of  Noah,  wing-wearied  over  chaos,  we  can  find  peace 
and  consolation  and  rest  only  in  him. 

Nothing  else  will  succeed  in  such  times  as  these.  Feed 
the  palate  with  all  the  delicacies  of  the  East,  store  the  intel- 
lect with  great  thoughts,  give  the  weeper  that  mourns  over 
his  dead  all  that  this  world  can  supply ;  and  the  heart,  unsat- 
isfied and  uncomposed,  will  lift  up  its  piercing  entreaty, 
"  Give  me,  0,  give  me  words  of.  eternal  life ;  bread  that  can 
feed  me,  and  water  that  can  refresh  me."  The  soul  is  too 
great  to  be  satisfied  with  anything  that  this  world  can  yield, 
and  its  deep  sense  of  loss  in  the  circumstances  I  have  men- 
tioned too  real  to  be  relieved  by  the  poor  and  the  miserable 
comforts  that  earth  can  give.  But  in  Christ  I  find  all  and 
more  than  I  need  for  every  emergency.  Do  I  need  pardon  ? 
In  him  is  forgiveness.  Do  I  need  sanctification  ?  "I  will 
pray  the  Father,  and  he  will  send  you  another  Comforter, 
that  he  may  abide  with  you  forever."  Do  I  need  strength  ? 
"  My  strength  is  made  perfect  in  weakness."  Do  I  need 
grace?  "My  grace  is  sufiicient  for  thee."  Do  1  need 
acquittal  ?  "  There  is  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in 
Christ  Jesus."  Do  I  need  triumph  over  death,  —  victory 
over  the  grave,  —  the  opening  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to 
me,  a  believer  ?     I  can  say,  "  0  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ? 


WORDS    OF    ETERNAL    LIFE.  285 

O  grave,  where  is  tliy  victory  ?  "  Absent  from  the  body  is 
to  me  to  be  present  with  the  Lord. 

We  now  know  what  true  religion  is ;  not,  as  we  have  seen, 
union  to  a  sect,  or  membership  of  a  church,  or  being  an 
admirer  of  such  a  preacher,  or  a  member  of  such  a  party. 
This  is  not  religion ;  it  is  often  compatible  with  the  absence 
of  vital  religion ;  for,  alas  !  alas !  it  is  too  true  that  in  the 
visible  church  there  have  been  quarrels  that  would  even  dis- 
grace the  House  of  Commons ;  among  divines  there  have 
been  disputes,  angry,  bitter,  acrimonious  disputes,  that  are 
not  found  amid  the  partisans  of  this  world.  The  visible 
church  is  made  up  of  tares  and  wheat,  bad  and  good,  onward 
to  the  very  end ;  and  to  belong  to  a  visible  church,  and  to 
be  zealous  and  enthusiastic  for  it,  is  not  necessarily  to  be  a 
Christian.  True  religion  is  clinging  to  Christ,  if  all  the 
churches  upon  earth  should  forsake  him,  resting  upon  him  for 
pardon,  upon  his  promise  for  the  Holy  Spirit,  upon  his  words 
of  eternal  life  for  the  hopes  of  glory.  This  is  living  and 
true  religion ;  it  is  a  personal  thing,  not  an  ecclesiastical 
thing;  it  is  telling  all  priests  —  Presbyters,  Episcopalians, 
Independents,  Baptists  —  to  stand  at  the  bottom  of  the 
mount,  while  I,  like  Abraham,  ascend  to  its  sun-lit  peak 
alone,  hear  my  Father  speak  to  me,  and  alone  ask  of  him  to 
speak  again  the  blessed  words  of  eternal  life.  Tliis  is  reli- 
gion, and  for  this  there  is  no  substitute,  and  nothing  else  can 
supersede  it.  And  if  men,  instead  of  wrangling  about 
church-mending,  would  only  exercise  towards  each  other 
more  of  Christian  love,  there  would  be  greater  peace  and 
progress  in  Christianity  throughout  the  world. 

Recollect,  whatever  be  your  case,  whatever  be  your  per- 
plexity, whatever  be  your  loss,  that  Christ  is  always  present 
to  speak  to  you  the  words  of  eternal  life.  I  know  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  teach  this ;  you  say,  0,  if  he  were  only  seated  in 
the  midst  of  us ;  if  we  were  with  him  in  the  boat  in  the  lake 


286'  WORDS   OF    ETERNAL   LIFE. 

of  Gennesaret;  if  we  could  but  listen  to  him;  if  he  were 
only  now  visible  before  our  eyes,  and  talking  to  us,  then, 
indeed,  we  could  hear  with  delight ;  but  he  is  absent !  Yes, 
absent  personally,  but  present  truly.  It  is  not  seen  things 
that  are  the  most  real :  unseen  things  are  the  real ;  seen 
things  are  the  sham,  the  evanescent,  the  transient ;  we  are 
told  that  Jesus  is  with  his  people  to  the  end  of  the  world, 
and  that,  wherever  two  or  three  are  met  together  in  his  name, 
there  is  he  in  the  midst  of  them.  What  a  blessed  thought  is 
this  !  You  may  be  far  from  church,  from  minister,  from 
sacrament,  far  from  sweet  sounds  of  praise  and  from  the 
earnest  entreaties  of  prayer;  but,  if  a  Christian,  you  never 
can  go  far  from  Christ.  You  may  be  far,  far  from  all  the 
means  of  grace,  from  all  the  forms  of  worship  ;  but  you 
never,  if  a  Christian,  can  be  far  from  Christ.  It  is  the  wor- 
shipping heart  that  makes  holy  ground ;  and  wherever  such 
a  heart  beats,  there  is  present  One  who  hears  it,  and  who 
knows  its  wants  before  it  can  find  words  adequately  to  express 
them.  Never  let  go  the  blessed  thought  that  you  are  as  near 
Christ  now  as  Peter  was ;  that  you  can  hear  him  now  speak- 
ing as  truly,  as  eloquently,  as  musically,  as  we  can  show  you, 
as  ever  Paul  or  John  heard  him  speak  upon  earth ;  and  that 
his  presence,  instead  of  being  less  real,  is  more  real,  and  may 
by  you  be  more  sweetly  and  powerfully  felt,  than  when  Peter 
heard  him,  and  said,  "Lord,  evermore  give  us  this  bread; 
speak  to  us,  0  Lord,  the  words  of  eternal  life."  But,  you 
ask,  how  does  he  speak  to  us  ?  What  is  the  Bible  ?  Just 
the  echo,  perpetuated  along  the  centuries,  the  corridors  of 
time,  of  what  Christ  said  upon  the  mount  of  Beatitudes,  on 
Calvary,  and  in  Gethsemane.  A  voice  spoken  in  a  long  gal- 
lery reverberates  along  its  corridors  till  it  is  heard  at  the 
other  end ;  the  words  of  Jesus,  spoken  eighteen  centuries 
ago,  still  reverberate,  as  if  the  world  and  the  centuries  con- 
stituted one  grand  whispering-gallery,  till   everybody  upon 


•SVORDS    OF    ETERNAL    LIFE.  287 

eartli  that  listens  may  hear  the  words  of  eternal  life.  But  in 
what  words  does  he  speak  ?  What  is  every  text  of  the  Bible 
but  the  very  echo  of  w^hat  Christ  said  ?  I  am  as  certain 
that  he  said,  "  Come  unto  me,  and  I  will  give  you  rest,"  as 
if  I  heard  him  uttering  those  words  of  life  at  this  ver}'  mo- 
ment; there  is  not  a  text  in  the  Bible  that  is  not  the  utter- 
ance, distinct,  unmistakable,  of  everlasting  life.  It  is  a 
blessed  thing,  that  what  the  Bible  says  is  the  utterance  of 
truth ;  that  eternal  life  is  often  found  in  the  shortest  and 
the  simplest  formula.  Such  texts  as  "  Christ  Jesus  came  into 
the  world  to  save  sinners;"  "The  blood  of  Jesus  cleanseth 
from  all  sin  ;"  "  He  was  made  sin  for  us,  that  we  might  be 
made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him  ;"  "  Come  unto  me,  all 
ye  that  are  weary  and  heavy  laden;"  "He  that  believeth  ou 
me  hath  eternal  life ;"  "  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in 
the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up  : 
that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life;" — are  words  of  life;  the  man  that  has 
these  truths  resounding  in  the  chambers  of  memory,  and 
received  into  the  depths  of  his  soul,  has  the  seeds,  the  ele- 
ments, the  certainty,  of  everlasting  life. 

Jesus  speaks  to  us  also  in  his  promises.  What  are  his 
promises  ?  They  sparkle  with  sacred  light  like  the  stars  in 
the  firmament.  His  precepts  are  the  commands  of  a  legis- 
lator :  his  prophecies  are  the  utterance  of  him  who  sees  the 
future  as  he  sees  the  past :  but  his  promises  are  not  only 
prophecies  of  what  shall  be,  but  promises  of  the  good  that 
will  be,  the  vehicles  of  the  thoughts  of  eternal  life. 

These  words  that  Christ  speaks  to  us  are  full  of  love.  This 
is  a  blessed  thought.  If  you  will  read  the  teaching  of  Jesus, 
it  must  often  strike  you  as  remarkable  that  the  only  sin  that 
he  rebuked  in  words  of  awful  denunciation  was  hypocrisy, 
and  that  the  very  worst  and  most  profligate,  that  came  to  him 
seeking  mercy,  never  went  away  with  an  angry  word ;  it  was 


288  WORDS    OF    ETERNAL    LIFE. 

as  if  Jesus  looked  upon  the  man's  sin  as  bis  saddest  mis- 
fortune, and  had  only  words  of  pity  and  of  sorrow,  followed 
by  a  word  of  judicial  pardon  and  forgiveness.  All  that  Jesus 
taught  is  full  of  love,  and  in  proportion  as  we  preach  in  the- 
same  strain  we  shall  be  followed  in  our  preaching  with  a  cor- 
responding success. 

The  words  that  Christ  speaks  have  another  character. 
They  are  weighty  testimonies.  If  the  Bible  were  a  long  pro- 
cess of  reasoning,  and  the  texts  the  corollaries,  —  the  results 
of  that  long  process,  —  they  would  not  be  so  clear  to  the  ordi- 
nary mind,  they  would  not  be  so  evident;  but,  instead  of  being 
so,  the  Bible  consists  of  clear,  distinct  announcements  from 
one  who  came  from  heaven,  and  was  filled  with  infinite  wis- 
dom, in  order  to  make  it  known.  He  does  not  say,  "  You 
have  heard,"  "  it  has  been  said,"  and  "  it  has  been  thought;" 
but,  "  I  say  unto  you,"  —  a  positive,  distinct  declaration  of 
what  is  truth,  on  the  highest  possible  authority. 

Christ's  words  of  eternal  life  are  very  plain.  Take  the 
Bible  as  a  whole,  there  are  great  mysteries  in  it.  If  the 
Bible  had  no  mysteries,  it  would  be  without  one  of  its  greatest 
credentials.  This  book,  while  it  contains  a  portrait  of  man 
as  he  is  by  nature,  and  of  man  as  he  is  by  grace,  contains 
also  a  portrait  of  God.  As  He  is  infinite  and  incomprehen- 
sible, I  must  expect  to  find  in  it  mysteries  that  must  exceed 
my  capabilities.  I  am  not  to  measure  the  Infinite  by  the 
finite.  But  more  is  plain  than  obscure  ;  for  instance,  hear 
those  words  of  the  Bible  that  contain  the  truths  of  everlast- 
ing life,  and  learn  how  plain  they  are.  Creeds  of  churches 
are  obscure ;  canons  of  councils  arc  many  of  them  scarcely 
interpretable  at  all ;  but  the  Bible  is  plain,  it  is  the  most 
popular  book ;  and  those  books  that  explain  it  and  partake 
of  its  character  grow  in  popularity  precisely  as  they  approx- 
imate to  its  character.  It  is  the  plainest  of  all  books  on 
earth.     If  you  will  open  it  and  read  it  without  any  other 


WORDS    OF    ETERNAL    LIFE.  289 

thought,  you  will  be  struck  with  what  I  may  call  the  com- 
mon sense  of  the  Bible ;  it  is  full  of  what  is  called  common 
sense.  Apart  from  its  inspiration,  it  is  just  that  which  com- 
mends itself  to  man's  'conscience  as  a  book  full  of  the  truest 
and  the  plainest  reasoning. 

It  is  our  privilege  and  our  right  to  open  this  book,  and  to 
hear  in  it  Christ's  words  of  eternal  life.  No  man,  either  with 
a  crown  upon  his  brow  or  a  censer  in  his  hand,  —  prince  or 
priest,  —  may  dare  to  come  between  the  poorest  widow  and 
the  words  of  eternal  life.  No  power  on  earth  dare  modify 
its  testimony,  or  dilute  its  words  of  benediction.  We  must 
judge  the  church  by  the  Bible,  not  the  Bible  by  the  church. 
We  must  hear  what  God's  book  says  about  the  church,  before 
we  hear  what  the  church  says  about  God's  book.  In  doc- 
trinal matters,  it  is  not,  "  Hear  what  the  church  says  about 
the  Bible,"  but,  "  Hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the 
churches."  None  may  come  between  us  and  these  words, 
We  must  not  be  satisfied  with  their  echo,  we  must  not  accept 
them  at  second  hand ;  we  must  open  the  original  itself,  and 
hear  the  words  of  eternal  life. 
25 


CHAPTER    XXIII 

TEMPLE    LIFE. 

"  Jerusalem,  my  happy  home. 
Name  ever  clear  to  me  ! 
When  shall  my  labors  have  an  end. 
In  joy,  and  peace,  and  thee  1 

"  When  shall  mine  eyes  thy  heaven-built  walls 
And  pearly  gates  behold  ; 
Thy  bulwarks  with  salvation  strong. 
And  streets  of  shining  gold  1 " 

"  Blessed  is  the  man  whom  thou  choosest,  and  causest  to  approach 
unto  thee,  that  he  may  dwell  in  thy  courts  :  we  shall  be  satisfied  with 
the  goodness  of  thy  house,  even  of  thy  holy  temple."  —  Psalm  C5  :  4. 

Man  pronounces  benedictions  that  are  only  in  words,  which 
he  cannot  make  the  vehicles  of  real  or  efficient  power.  When 
God  pronounces  a  blessing,  it  is  not  only  in  word,  but  in 
power.  It  strikes  and  lasts  when  heard.  Man  may  bless 
those  whom  God  has  not  blessed  —  this  is  our  weakness ; 
and  we  curse  those  whom  God  has  blessed  —  this  is  our  sin. 
It  is  a  light  thing  to  be  blessed  or  cursed  of  man  ;  but  it  is 
a  precious  privilege,  a  real  result,  a  lasting  force,  to  be 
blessed  of  God. 

"  Blessed  is  the  man  whom  thou  choosest."  The  men  of 
this  world  think  they  are  blessed  or  happy  who  are  rich,  illus- 
trious, or  great ;  it  is  not  so.  God  pronounces  blessings,  not 
on  outward  appearance,  but  invariably  on  inward  character 


TEMPLE    LIFE.  291 

He  pronounces  the  blessing  according  to  what  the  heart  is ; 
man  very  often  gives  it  according  to  what  the  man  wears. 

The  characteristic  features  of  the  blessed  are  these  :  "  The 
man  whom  thou  choosest,"  not  the  man  who  first  chose  God. 
"VVe  are  sinful  and  ruined;  if  rewarded  according  to  our 
works,  we  should  perish  forever.  Grace  in  its  sovereignty 
fastens  upon  us  in  our  lost  estate,  and  selects  and  stamps  us 
for  glory.  An  eye  we  did  not  see  sees  us,  an  arm  we  did 
not  know  lays  hold  upon  us,  and  we  are  therefore  chosen 
and  blessed  of  God.  This  doctrine  of  election  is  stated  fre- 
quently in  Scripture.  "  According,"  it  is  said,  "  as  God  hath 
chosen  us  in  Christ  before  the  foundation  of  the  world." 
This  choice  is  made  in  sovereignty.  He  elects  the  creature 
who  has  nothing,  in  order  to  make  the  creature  eventually 
something.  Election  is  not  an  empty  decree,  but  an  oper- 
ative influence.  This  special  influence  and  eflfect  is  called 
approaching  unto  God.  Only  a  religion  that  comes  from 
God  can  carry  its  subjects  to  God.  Chosen  of  God,  we  re- 
ceive our  first  impulse,  and  so  are  made  centripetally  to 
approach  unto  him  as  the  closing  and  blessed  consummation. 
This  language  implies  that  we  are  found  projected  by  sin  to  a 
distance  from  God ;  and  not  only  so,  but  that  we  are  disin- 
clined to  return  to  him.  It  is  a  very  strange  thing  that, 
knowing  what  heaven  and  its  happiness  are,  man  can  ever 
settle  down  satisfied  with  what  he  is ;  the  only  explanation  is 
that  our  own  feelings  are  lowered  down  to  the  temperature 
of  the  world  in  which  we  live,  and  we  think  there  is  nothing 
in  prospect  better  for  us,  or  possible.  We  are  therefore  by 
nature  unwilling  to  approach  God.  But  when  we  are  chosen 
of  him,  and  come  under  his  attraction,  we  delight  to  approach 
unto  him  —  we  feel  ourselves  borne  upward  under  an  irresist- 
ible yet  joyous  and  welcome  attraction.  "  I,  if  I  be  lifted 
up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me."  Duty  and  delight  become 
one.     Blessed  is  the  man  who  is  thus  drawn ;  because,  the 


292  TEMPLE   LIFE. 

nearer  we  approximate  In  likeness  to  God,  the  happier  we 
feel.  But  this  blessedness  is  not  a  mere  vague  feeling  of 
happiness.  There  accompanies  it  a  sweet  sense  of  pardon, 
based  on  the  surest  grounds.  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  siu 
is  forgiven,"  is  ours  also.  It  is  a  very  delightful  thing  to 
know  that  the  Great  Sovereign  of  the  universe  has  pardoned 
us,  and  that  sin  shall  not  be  our  ruin.  Our  resting  on 
Christ's  atonement,  and  our  inward  and  just  belief  that  God 
has  chosen  us,  is  the  Spirit  witnessing  with  our  spirit,  that  we 
are  in  Christ  Jesus,  the  sons  of  God,  the  heirs  of  heaven, 
and  therefore  subject  to  no  condemnation  here  or  hereafter. 

Another  great  element  of  this  blessedness  is  the  conscious 
fact  that  we  are  regenerated,  one  proof  of  which  is  that  we 
like  things  that  God  approves,  and  which  formerly  we  hated. 
This  feeling  deepens  as  we  draw  near  to  God.  Our  joy  in- 
creases as  a  river.  We  feel  blessed  when  God  causes  us  thus 
to  approach  unto  him :  but  what  are  some  of  the  sources  of 
the  impulse  that  he  employs  ?  First,  the  light  and  the  force 
of  truth,  which  penetrates  our  minds  and  sanctifies  our  hearts. 
Secondly,  the  hopes  of  joy,  and  the  fear  of  offending  God ; 
and  these  truths,  lodged,  like  seeds,  in  the  heart,  grow  up 
under  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  exercise  the  force 
and  permanent  spring  of  living  principles.  But  especially 
does  God  cause  us  to  approach  to  himself  by  the  personal 
presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  takes  the  things  of  Christ, 
and  so  presents  them  to  our  minds  that  the  great  truths  of 
the  Gospel  rise  before  us  beautiful  and  true  as  they  never  did 
before,  and  fill  our  hearts  with  pure  light,  and  create  therein 
the  warmth  of  celestial  love,  the  very  atmosphere  of  heaven. 

The  promise  to  the  man  thus  blessed  is,  that  he  shall  dwell 
in  God's  courts.  This  does  not  mean  always  dwelling  in  the 
outward  building  called  the  church.  This  is  impossible,  were 
it  desirable.  It  means  having  a  Sabbath  spirit,  a  temple 
life,  and  a  worshipping  heart.     It  means  living  near  to  God, 


TEMPLE    LIFE.  293 

finding  everywhere  an  altar,  and  in  all  space  a  divine  conse- 
cration. What  a  man  does  is  as  expressive  of  gratitude  as 
what  a  man  says.  Love  is  worship  as  pure  and  earnest  as 
the  words  of  the  lip ;  and  wherever,  and  by  whomsoever, 
anything  is  done  from  a  pure  motive,  and  to  the  glory  of 
God,  there  is  worship  that  rises  swifter  than  the  morning  or 
the  evening  incense  into  the  presence  of  the  Eternal.  Deeds 
are  songs.  Life  is  praise.  When  the  tabernacle  in  which  we 
now  sojourn  shall  be  taken  down,  we  shall  enter  the  chancel 
itself,  and,  without  vail  or  obstruction,  dwell  in  the  Lord's 
house  and  serve  him  without  ceasing — temple,  priests  and 
Levites,  in  his  presence. 

They  shall  be  satisfied  with  God's  goodness.  There  is  no 
satisfaction  deducible  from  any  object  upon  earth,  or  rendered 
by  its  deepest  and  fullest  cisterns.  The  more  a  man  has,  the 
more  he  desires,  and  the  less  he  is  satisfied.  On  earth  there 
are  but  empty  joys,  that  collapse,  like  bubbles,  the  instant 
they  are  touched ;  but  in  heaven  there  is  fulness  of  joy. 
Here  there  are  pleasures,  like  snow-flakes  upon  a  stream,  that 
no  sooner  touch  life's  current  than  they  are  dissolved  and 
disappear ;  but  in  the  upper  temple  there  are  pleasures  that 
last  and  blossom  eternally. 

In  the  presence  of  God  there  is  joy  that  grows  in  beauty, 
and  dilates  the  heart  equal  to  its  expanding  greatness. 
Blessedness  is  intense  in  the  ratio  of  our  nearness  4o  God, 
likeness  to  Christ,  and  possession  and  presence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  In  the  future  world  these  are  realized  in  all  their 
glory,  all  interruptions  are  removed,  clouds  are  impossible, 
decay,  and  disease,  and  death,  are  unknown.  The  brightest 
things  last  longest ;  eternity,  unlike  time,  increases  and 
brightens  every  element  it  embraces  in  its  capacious  bosom. 
25^ 


CHAPTEE    XXIV. 

THE    APOSTOLIC    BENEDICTION. 

*'  Lord,  dismiss  us  with  thy  blessing, 
Fill  our  hearts  with  joy  aud  peace  : 
Let  us  each,  thy  love  possessing, 
Triumph  in  redeeming  grace. 
0  refresh  us  ! 
Travelling  through  this  wilderness." 

"  The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  the 
communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  with  you  all.  Amen." — 2  Corin- 
thians 13  :  14. 

These  words  close  our  services  in  the  sanctuary  every  Sab- 
bath. They  may  fitly  close  every  period  of  time.  They  are 
the  most  appro^Driate,  because  the  most  suggestive,  commence- 
ment of  every  new  period  that  comes  round  in  the  good  prov- 
idence of  God.  Our  services,  our  Sabbaths,  our  years,  and 
each  day's  sorrows,  should  end,  and  every  day's  duties  should 
begin,  \fith  this  benediction.  Let  us  pray  that  every  year 
that  is  before  us  may  carry  with  it,  and  have  upon  it,  as  it 
sweeps  past,  the  grace  of  Jesus,  the  love  of  God,  and  the 
communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

This  benediction  embosoms  pardon  for  the  past ;  it  unbosoms 
hope  and  peace  and  blessing  for  the  future.  It  is  seasonable 
to  pronounce  it  at  the  close  of  one  year ;  it  is  most  appropri- 
ate to  pray  it  at  the  commencement  of  another.  May  it  not 
only  be  to  us  in  word,  but  also  in  power,  and  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  a  benediction  from  heaven  ! 


THE   APOSTOLIC    BLESSING.  295 

A  blessing  so  precious,  so  frequently  heard,  and  by  the 
apostle  given  as  the  close  of  the  two  most  instructive  epistles 
to  the  Corinthian  church,  is  worth  investigation.  Let  u£ 
open  the  cabinet,  and  ascertain  its  contents.  Let  us  break 
the  alabaster  box,  that  its  precious  perfume  may  be  diffused 
over  the  years  and  days  to  come,  so  that  we  may  be  refreshed 
and  strengthened  for  the  march  of  life. 

"  The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ "  is  one-third  of  the 
benediction.  What  is  this  grace  ?  Literally  and  strictly,  it 
means  free  favor,  or  God's  dealing  with  man,  not  according 
to  his  merits,  which  would  precipitate  him  only  in  disaster, 
but  according  to  grace,  a  higher  principle,  unfolded  in  the 
Gospel,  in  spite  of  man's  merits,  and  after  the  riches  of  God's 
liberality  and  sovereign  love.  We  are  told  what  grace  means 
by  its  contrast.  "  The  law  was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace 
and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ,"  John  1 :  17.  Therefore, 
when  we  pray  that  ours  may  be  the  grace  of  Christ,  it  means 
that  we  may  receive  all  we  need,  in  spite  of  what  we  deserve. 
It  is  a  prayer  on  our  part  that  those  blessings  promised  by 
the  law  to  them  who  perfectly,  and  without  a  faltering  foot- 
step or  wavering  heart,  keep  the  law,  may  descend  upon  us 
who  have  broken  it,  and  are  legally  under  its  condemnation, 
but  are  brought  by  grace  from  beneath  its  ruins,  and  placed 
no  more  in  law,  but  in  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord.  This  benedic- 
tion implores  that  the  blessings  which  the  law  promised  to 
them  who  were  under  the  law  and  kept  it  may  descend  upon 
us,  who,  indeed,  have  broken  the  law,  but  are  yet  in  Christ. 
Thus  we  have  complete  pardon,  through  the  obedience  of  one, 
and  are  acquitted  and  justified  as  if  we  had  kept  the  law  invi- 
olate, and  were  each  unimpeachable  in  thought  or  deed  in  the 
sight  of  a  holy  and  heart-searching  God. 

This  grace,  which  the  apostle  prays  may  be  with  all  God's 
people,  shines  and  sparkles  in  every  page  of  the  sacred  rec- 
ord.    It  is  the  glad  music  of  every  promise  ;  it  is  that  which 


296  THE   APOSTOLIC    BLESSING. 

gives  its  tone  and  coloring  to  the  whole  fabric  and  structure 
of  evangelical  religion.  "  Ye  are  saved  by  grace,"  is  Chris- 
tianity in  a  nutshell,  —  our  religion  expressed  and  embodied 
in  the  shortest  sentence. 

Grace  is  felt  and  shown  to  us  in  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins. 

The  apostle  alludes  to  it  frequently  in  this  light.  "  In 
whom  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  the  forgiveness 
of  sins,  according  to  the  riches  of  his  grace,"  Ephesians  1 :  7. 
"  Justified  freely  by  his  grace,"  Romans  3 :  24.  When, 
therefore,  the  minister  pronounces  the  blessing,  and  its  echo 
and  responsive  "  Amen  "  rises  from  our  hearts,  our  common 
petition  is,  that  God's  grace  may  be  glorified  in  the  forgive- 
ness of  our  sins ;  that  this  primal  blessing  that  we  need  may 
be  bestowed  upon  us  in  the  only  way  in  which  a  crumb  of 
bread,  or  a  cup  of  cold  water,  or  the  salvation  of  the  soul,  or 
a  crown  of  glory,  can  be  given,  through  and  by  the  atonement, 
the  mediation  and  intercession,  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  In 
other  words,  when  we  pray  that  grace  may  be  with  us,  we 
ask  that  we  may  obtain  gratis  what  we  never  can  obtain  by 
paying ;  that  we  may  be  pardoned  by  grace,  as  we  can  only 
be  condemned  by  merit.  We  present  ourselves  as  mendicants 
and  suppliants  ;  as  empty,  poor,  naked,  and  destitute  of  all ; 
and  we  say  to  God,  what  Wicklifie,  the  morning  star  of  the 
Reformation,  made  the  burden  of  his  petitions,  "  0  Lord,  for- 
give me  gratis !  "  that  is,  save  mc  by  grace. 

But,  when  v/e  pray  that  this  grace  may  be  with  us,  we 
desire  that  we  may  have  a  deep  sense  of  it ;  not  only  that  w^ 
may  realize  its  advantages,  but  that  we  may  have  an  inwari 
sense  and  enjoyment  of  its  sweetness.  The  apostle  says 
"  The  grace  of  God,  that  bringeth  salvation,  hath  appeared  to 
all  men,  teaching  us  that,  denying  ungodliness  and  worldl} 
lusts,  we  should  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly,  in  thia 
present  world,"  Titus  2:  11,  12.  He  says,  in  another  part, 
'^  Ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  "  that  is,  you 


THE   APOSTOLIC   BLESSING.  297 

have  experience  inwardly  and  on  your  hearts  of  what  it  is, 
when  he  bestows  upon  you  blessings,  not  only  without  your 
merits,  but  in  spite  of  your  demerits ;  so  that  you  are  con- 
strained to  feel  that  the  best  and  greatest  thing  that  you  ever 
got  from  God,  he  gave  you,  not  because  you  deserved  it,  but 
in  spite  of  your  having  incurred  the  contrary.  This  the  apos- 
tle implies,  when  he  prays  that  the  grace  of  Christ  may  be 
with  us,  that  this  grace  may  be  felt  by  us.  What  will  be 
the  influence  of  this  grace,  thus  inwardly  felt  by  us  ?  In 
proportion  to  our  inward  sense  of  God's  unmerited  goodness 
to  us  will  be  our  outward  devotedness  to  all  the  duties  and 
responsibilities  of  the  Christian  life.  It  is  God's  grace  felt 
within  us  that  instantly  creates,  responsive  to  its  touch,  grat- 
itude to  God.  The  more  we  feel  of  his  grace,  the  more  of 
gratitude  shall  we  cherish  to  him  who  gives  it.  It  is  most 
important  that  we  should,  in  our  hearts,  feel  this  grace  ;  that 
we  should  see  how  great,  sovereign  and  undeserved,  it  is ; 
that  we  should  understand  that  to  God  can  accrue  nothing 
that  will  add  to  his  greatness,  or  augment  his  happiness,  by 
thus  graciously  pardoning  and  saving  us.  In  proportion  as 
we  feel  it,  we  shall  be  prompted  to  exclaim,  "0,  the  riches 
of  his  grace,  the  height  and  depth  of  his  love  !  "  Nor  in  a 
less  degree,  as  the  apostle  says,  will  the  grace  of  Christ  teach" 
to  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly.  It  is  in  proportion 
as  we  consciously  receive  everything  by  grace  that  we  shall 
most  richly  bring  forth  in  our  lives  the  fruits  and  foliage  of 
the  Christian  character.  Our  sense  of  it  is  virtue.  As  long 
as  we  see  and  think  of  God  as  exacting  duties,  we  shall  regard 
him  as  a  tyrant  master,  and  feel  ourselves  as  poor,  miserable, 
shrinking  slaves.  But,  if  we  cease  altogether  to  think  of  God 
as  exacting,  and  begin  to  think  of  him  exclusively  as  by  grace 
giving,  the  result  will  be,  that  we  shall  no  longer  regard  him 
as  a  tyrant,  nor  feel  ourselves  as  slaves.  We  shall  see  him  as 
a  Father,  and  feel  ourselves  sons.     We  shall  view  him  as  the 


298  THE   APOSTOLIC    BLESSING. 

great  Benefactor,  and  we  shall  show  to  him  gratitude  in  some 
measure  commensurate  with  the  munificence  of  the  blessings 
that  he  bestows  upon  us.  In  truth,  the  great  secret  of  Chris- 
tian life  is  never  to  think  of  what  God  commands,  but  always 
of  what  God  gives ;  to  think  of  him  less  as  commanding  duties, 
and  more  and  more  as  bestowing  undeserved  mercies.  But 
will  not  this  lead  men  not  to  obey  God  ?  We  answer,  just 
the  very  reverse.  Our  obedience  will  not  only  be  in  its 
principle  purer,  but  it  will  have  a  momentum  that  is  stronger ; 
for  he  who  sees  that  he  has  received  from  God  all,  and  that 
God  asks  nothing  in  return,  leaving  the  recipient  to  act  in 
accordance  with  the  sense  of  the  blessings  that  he  has  received, 
will  be  constrained  instinctively  —  it  will  be  his  nature  —  to 
go  forth  and  glorify  God  with  his  soul  and  body,  which  are 
his ;  for  we  cannot  help  loving  him  who  has  so  undeservedly 
loved  us,  and  such  love  in  the  heart  responding  to  the  love 
that  God  has  shown  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law ;  for  that  thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself,  is  the  first  and  last  of  the  commandments 
of  the  law.  Thus,  as  we  see  grace  in  the  beginning,  middle 
and  end,  we  shall  be  constrained,  by  that  grace,  to  live  soberly, 
righteously,  and  godly;  looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  the 
glorious  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ  its  author,  "  who  loved  us," 
—  there  is  the  proof  of  his  grace,  —  and  "gave  himself  for 
us,  that  he  might  redeem  us  to  himself,  a  peculiar  people, 
zealous  of  good  works."  Such  is  Christ's  grace  ;  that  which 
embosoms  so  much  in  the  present,  which  will  unbosom  so 
much  for  the  future,  which  is  sufficient  for  us,  which,  felt 
most  deeply  in  our  hearts,  will  glow  with  greatest  light,  and 
power,  and  beauty,  in  our  walk,  conduct,  and  intercourse  with 
the  world. 

Let  us  look,  in  the  second  part  of  this  benediction,  at  the 
love  of  God.  The  definition  of  Deity  in  the  New  Testament 
is,  "  God  is  love."     I  can  gather  from  creation  that  God  has 


THE   APOSTOLIC    BLESSING.  299 

loved,  but  I  learn  on  the  cross  only  that  God  is  love.  If  you 
ask  me  for  the  greatest  proof  of  it,  it  is  in  these  words,  — 
words  often  lightly  spoken,  and  little  realized,  but  full  of  deep 
and  inexhaustible  meaning, —  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he 
gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  It  is  not,  Christ 
died  for  us,  therefore  God  loves  us;  but,  God  loved  us, 
therefore  Christ  died  for  us.  Christ  is  not  the  cause  of  God's 
love  to  me,  but  he  is  the  evidence  of  the  preexistence  of  that 
love,  and  the  provision  for  that  love  descending  on  me  in  full 
consistency  with  a  justice  that  never  can  be  unjust,  a  holiness 
that  never  can  be  unholy,  and  a  truth  that  never  can  be  un- 
true ;  and  through  that  grand  provision,  Christ  crucified,  not 
only  does  God's  love  reach  me,  but  his  justice,  truth  and  holi- 
ness, acquiesce  in  its  doing  so.  Out  of  Christ,  these  attributes 
would  have  smitten  me,  as  would  the  consuming  fire,  and 
have  utterly  destroyed  me ;  but  in  and  through  Christ,  these 
attributes  reach  me,  as  the  grand  current  of  salvation,  wash- 
ing away  all  my  sins,  and  acquitting  and  absolving  me  from 
all  my  transgressions;  accepting  me  at  the  judgment-seat; 
and,  after  the  judgment-seat,  not  only  tolerating  me  in 
heaven,  but  welcoming  me ;  not  only  admitting  me  as  a  legal- 
ly-acquitted person,  but  hailing  me  as  a  returned  son,  for 
whom,  not  penalty,  but  a  glad  festival,  has  been  preparing 
from  everlasting  ages. 

This  love  that  the  apostle  pronounces  is  seen,  first,  in  par- 
doning our  sins.  It  gave  Christ  a  propitiation  for  all  that  will, 
and  it  also  engages  to  apply  that  propitiation  to  each  that 
believes.  We  need  God's  love  not  only  to  provide  the  rem- 
edy, but  to  individualize  and  particularize  itself,  and  so  to 
reveal  its  provisions  to  my  heart,  that  I  shall  hail  it,  and 
rejoice  in  it,  and  be  justified  through  it. 

This  love  is  shown  in  adopting  us  "  Behold,"  says  John, 
"  jvhat  manner  of  love  the  Father  has  bestowed  upon  us, 


300  THE   APOSTOLIC    BLESSING. 

that  we  should  be  called  the  sons  of  God  !  "  By  nature  we 
are  aliens  and  enemies.  In  Paradise  we  left  our  robes  of 
innocence,  beauty,  glory  and  perfection,  and  went  forth,  or, 
rather,  we  were  in  mercy  driven  forth,  naked,  poor  and  blind'. 
We  tried  to  clothe  ourselves  and  conceal  our  nakedness  with 
fig-tree  leaves.  Poor  man,  feeling,  when  he  had  sinned,  that 
he  had  lost  something  he  knew  not  what,  and  had  come  under 
a  feeling  of  want  and  desolation  he  knew  not  how,  thought,  in 
his  ignorance,  that  he  could  lull  the  sense  of  desolation,  and 
supply  every  want,  by  sewing  together  leaves  from  that  tree 
of  which,  in  all  probability,  he  had  just  eaten,  —  "the  tree 
of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,"  the  fig-tree,  —  and  hoped 
that  thus  and  thereby  he  might  again  be  restored,  and  become 
a  son  of  God.  But  thus  he  could  not  become  what  he  once 
was,  and  so  was  clothed  with  a  better  righteousness.  God  is 
adopting  us  as  sons ;  that  is,  taking  us  from  the  family  of 
Adam  clothed  with  fig-tree  leaves,  and  translating  us  into  the 
family  of  God  clothed  in  the  skins  of  slain  sacrifices ;  that  is, 
he  is  taking  us  from  the  family  of  the  first  Adam,  in  which 
we  became  apostate,  and  translating  us  into  the  family  of  the 
second  Adam,  our  elder  brother,  and  so  making  us  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  most  high  God.  Amos  raised  from  a  herds- 
man  to  be  a  prophet,  David  chosen  from  feeding  the  ewes  to 
be  a  King  of  Israel,  Peter  raised  from  spreading  a  fisherman's 
net  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  be  an  apostle,  the  prodigal 
brought  from  feeding  on  husks  and  living  in  the  company  of 
swine  to  sit  at  his  father's  table,  and  eat  at  a  grand  festival, 
—  these  are  but  feeble  types  of  that  great  translation,  which 
lifts  us  from  herding  with  a  world  which  writhes  beneath  the 
curse,  to  the  communion  of  a  company  who  have  washed  their 
robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and 
therefore  are  before  the  throne  of  God,  and  serve  him  day 
and  night  without  ceasing.  0,  the  height  and  depth,  the 
length  and  breadth,  of  this  love ;  it  passeth  understanding ! 


TIIE   APOSTOLIC    BLESSING.  301 

Is  it  not  worth  wishing  that  this  love  may  be  with  us  ?  la 
not  this  benediction  the  true  compliments  of  a  new  year  ? 
Are  not  these  three  wishes  well  worth  uttering  as  the  day  or 
the  year  breaks  upon  us,  knowing  not  what  it  shall  be  ?  Be 
satisfied  of  this,  that  if  God's  blessing  is  on  us,  the  mark  is 
on  our  brows  that  will  shield  us  from  sin  and  sorrow,  and 
preserve  us  faultless  to  his  presence  in  glory. 

The  love  of  God  our  Father  will  be  with  us,  too,  not  only 
in  adopting  us,  but  also  in  chastening  us.  One  of  the  lessons 
that  flesh  and  blood  does  not  like  to  learn  is,  that  God's  love 
chastens.  Our  common  notion  is,  that  pain,  suffering,  sor- 
row, adversity,  affliction,  are  all  the  proofs  of  God's  anger ; 
but  the  true  notion  is,  if  we  be  Christians,  such  things  are 
the  proofs  of  God's  love.  The  mere  creature  feels  affliction, 
and  he  argues  from  his  affliction  upwards,  and  infers  God  is 
angry  with  him  ;  but  the  Christian  begins  with  God,  and  says, 
God  is  my  Father,  therefore  what  happens  to  me.  however 
grievous,  is  the  evidence  and  the  fruit  of  his  love,  not  the 
fruit  and  evidence  of  his  wrath.  The  mere  child  of  nature 
argues  from  what  betides  him  up  to  what  God  is.  The  Chris- 
tian argues  from  what  God  is  down  to  the  character  of  what 
betides  him.  Therefore,  though  no  chastening  seemeth  joyous, 
but  grievous,  yet  afterwards  it  worketh  out  the  peaceable 
fruits  of  righteousness.  "If  ye  endure  chastening,  God 
dealeth  with  you  as  with  sons ;  for  what  son  is  he  whom  the 
father  chasteneth  not?"  And  again,  "As  many  as  I  love, 
I  rebuke  and  chasten."  Therefore,  the  love  of  God  in  the 
chastisement  of  his  own  is  one  of  the  clearest  scriptural 
truths.  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whom  the  Lord  chasteneth." 
Why  ?  Because  we  need  to  be  weaned  from  the  excessive 
idolatry  of  what  we  see,  hear,  taste,  and  possess.  If  man 
were  left  to  himself  in  this  world,  without  a  trouble,  a  cross, 
an  obstruction  or  a  difficulty,  he  would  so  strike  his  roots  into 
this  world  that  he  would  become  part  and  parcel  of  it.  We 
26 


60Z  THE   APOSTOLIC    BLESSING. 

need,  therefore,  trials,  afflictions,  crosses,  perplexities,  tribu- 
lation, chastening,  in  order  that  we  may  not  be  condemned 
with  the  world,  but  lifted  above  it,  led  to  triumph  over  it, 
that  we  may  set  our  hearts,  not  upon  a  rocking  earth,  but ' 
upon  the  true  rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God. 

This  love  is  also  seen  in  giving  us  all  things  that  are  truly 
needful  and  good  for  us.  What  is  the  first  function  of  a 
father  ?  To  provide  bread  and  raiment  for  his  children. 
"  As  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  so  doth  the  Lord  pity  them 
that  fear  him."  We  begin  our  prayers,  as  we  should  begin 
our  creed,  with  "  Our  Father."  If  that  be  his  relationship 
to  us,  and  this  our  relationship  to  him,  we  may  expect  that 
he  will  not  only  give  us  bread  for  the  ordinary  level  on  which 
we  tread,  but  that  he  will  teach  us  that  man  doth  not  live  by 
bread  alone ;  and,  therefore,  give  us  that  manna,  that  true 
bread,  that  will  strengthen  us  to  tread  with  growing  vigor 
that  loftier  level,  that  sun-lit  table-land,  which  is  the  tessellated 
pavement  of  glory.  "  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but 
delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also 
freely  give  us  all  things  ?  "  What  a  truth  is  here !  It  is 
an  argument  the  most  logical,  a  text  the  most  plain,  that,  if 
God  has  given  us  the  greatest  gift  that  it  was  in  the  power 
and  possession  of  Omnipotence  to  bestow,  surely  he  will  give 
us  the  lesser  things,  that  are  merely  convenient,  not  absolutely 
essential,  for  us.  Then,  may  not  only  the  grace  of  Christ,  but 
the  love  of  the  Father,  be  with  us  all. 

There  is,  lastly,  in  this  benediction,  "  the  communion  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  AVhat  does  this  mean  ?  "  If  any  man  have 
not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his."  "  The  Spirit  of 
Christ  dwelleth  in  us."  "  Know  ye  not  that  your  bodies  are 
temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  "  Let  us  recollect  that  the 
promise  of  the  Spirit  is  the  great  promise  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. The  present  dispensation  is  the  dispensation  of  the 
Spirit ;  but,  by  the  very  nature  of  that  Spirit's  testimony, 


THE   APOSTOLIC   BLESSING.  303 

we  are  not  satisfied  with  the  present ;  but,  as  he  takes  of  the 
things  of  Christ,  and  shows  them  to  us,  we  are  looking  for- 
ward to  Christ's  second  coming,  the  bridegroom  and  hus- 
band of  his  church,  in  the  rapidly  approaching  future.  Jesus 
tells  us  that  his  absence  will  be  in  some  degree  compensated 
by  the  Spirit's  presence ;  and,  therefore,  he  repeats,  in  the 
Gospel  of  John,  on  three  different  occasions,  this  promise  : 
"  But  the  Comforter,  which  is  the  Hoi}''  Ghost,  whom  the 
Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all  things." 
We  do  not  want  an  infallible  Pope  to  teach  us;  we  have  the 
teacher  of  all  things.  But  you  say,  "  How,  then,  do  men  dif- 
fer ?  "  They  differ  in  essential  things,  because  they  are  not 
all  taught  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  But,  if  this  promise  of  the 
Spirit  to  teach  me  all  things  has  any  truth  in  it,  then  why 
should  not  I  have  that  Spirit  ?  Why  should  not  you,  reader? 
Do  you  believe  God  ?  Is  it  a  promise  to  the  priest  ?  No ; 
it  is  to  all  his  disciples  in  all  ages.  "  And  he  shall  bring  all 
things  to  your  remembrance."  What  a  blessed  promise  ! 
Sometimes  you  are  laid  upon  a  sick  bed,  and  you  cannot  read 
a  single  page  of  the  Bible ;  or,  you  are  tossed  on  the  deep, 
and  feel  "  the  sorrow  of  the  sea ; "  or,  you  are  in  the  land 
of  the  Madiais,  where,  if  you  are  found  reading  a  page  of  the 
Bible,  a  dungeon  without  a  Bible  is  the  doom  that  awaits 
you.  But  what  a  blessed  thought,  that,  though  the  poor  pris- 
oner may  be  deprived  of  the  Protestant  Bible,  lest,  forsooth, 
it  should  teach  heresy,  —  surely  a  glorious  proof  of  the 
Protestantism  of  that  book  !  — he  cannot  be  deprived,  by  all 
the  cardinals  of  Rome,  of  this  promise :  "  The  Holy  Ghost 
shall  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance,  whatsoever  I 
have  said  unto  you."  And  again,  says  oui*  blessed  Lord, 
"  When  the  Comforter  is  come,  whom  I  will  send  unto  you 
from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  which  proceedeth 
from  the  Father,  he  shall  testify  of  me." 

We  have  this  Spirit,  first,  as  a  teacher.     I  can  teach  the 


804  THE  APOSTOLIC   BLESSING. 

outer  man ;  and  I  think  the  arguments  I  could  adduce,  for 
the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  and  for  the  truth  of  the  grand, 
distinctive  doctrines  of  Christianity,  are  so  clear,  cogent  and 
irresistible,  that  there  is  no  man  of  common  sense  and  ordi- 
nary learning  who  can  possibly  resist  the  conclusion  that  the 
Bible  and  Christianity  are  from  God.  The  fact  is,  a  sceptic 
now-a-days  does  not  appear  in  his  ancient  colors ;  if  he  did, 
he  would  be  pronounced  by  intelligent  men  to  be  a  fool. 
The  scepticism  of  the  passions,  not  of  the  head,  is  the  develop- 
ment of  infidelity  in  the  present  day.  But,  while  I  can  teach 
all  this  outwardly,  it  needs  the  Spirit  of  Christ  to  teach  the 
heart  inwardly ;  so  that  truth  which  conscience  subscribes  in 
the  creed  may  become  an  inner  life  in  the  heart.  It  is  not 
enough  that  we  should  have  the  best  of  teachers  in  the  pulpit, 
but  that  we  should  also  have  the  only  teacher  in  the  heart, 
who  can  take  the  truths  that  are  addressed  to  the  outward 
ear,  and  so  supply  them  inwardly  to  the  heart,  that  they  shall 
be  there  like  seeds  that  grow  up  into  rich  harvests,  or  like 
truths  through  which  we  are  sanctified  and  made  fit  for 
heaven. 

But  this  Spirit  is  not  only  the  teacher.  The  word  "  com- 
munion" of  him,  jiotvMv'ia,  the  "possession"  of  him,  denotes 
that  we  have  him  as  the  Comforter.  Here,  again,  is  a  blessed 
truth,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  not  only  a  teacher,  but  a  com- 
forter. When  Jesus  promises  the  Spirit,  he  says,  "  Even  the 
Spirit  of  truth,  the  Comforter."  The  world  comforts  by 
explaining  away  the  danger ;  but  the  Holy  Spirit  never  com- 
forts by  a  falsehood.  He  is  first  the  Spirit  of  truth,  and 
next  he  is  the  Comforter.  It  is  through  the  truth  that  he 
comforts.  A  truth  may  give  momentary  pain,  but  it  will 
give  permanent  pleasure.  We  never  can  have  the  peace  that 
passeth  understanding,  except  we  have  the  Spirit  of  truth  in 
our  hearts  ;  and,  therefore,  he  is  first  the  Spirit  of  truth,  then 
he  is  the  Comforter. 


TUB   APOSTOLIC   BLESSING.  305 

And  this  Holy  Spirit  is  also  the  Sanctifier  and  Regen- 
erator. Baptism  may  be  administered  by  the  minister,  and 
its  waters  sprinkled  on  the  forehead ;  but  that  is  not  enough. 
Unless  there  be  the  inner  baptism,  which  the  Holy  Spirit  does 
give  unto  them  that  open  their  hearts  to  receive  it,  there  can 
be  no  real  Christianity.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  things  so 
distinct  in  the  Bible  should  be  confounded  by  some.  There 
is  the  outer  church,  with  outer  baptism,  outer  preaching,  outer 
communion ;  then  there  is  the  inner  church,  with  inner  bap- 
tism, inner  teaching,  inner  communion.  Man,  the  minister, 
can  bestow  the  first ;  God,  the  great  master,  can  alone  give 
the  second.  The  secret  of  what  is  called  Tractarianism  and 
E-omanism  (I  mean  of  their  origin)  is,  just  supposing  that 
Christ's  true  church  is  coextensive  with  the  outward,  profess- 
ing, and  visible  church,  and  that  sacraments  are  ex  opere 
operato,  the  substance  as  well  as  the  sacrament ;  but,  if  they 
are  the  substance,  then  they  are  not  signs.  If  they  be  the 
things,  then  they  are  not  sacraments  at  all,  but  the  things 
themselves.  Therefore,  those  who  hold  that  baptism  is  regen- 
eration, and  the  Lord's  Supper  transubstantiation,  have  done 
away  with  the  sacraments;  for  they  have,  as  they  think,  the 
very  things:  but  if  they  have  not  the  things,  as  we  are 
sure  they  have  not,  then  they  have  only  a  desolating  delusion. 
Thus,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Sanctifier  and  Regenerator. 

Here,  then,  are  the  compliments  of  every  season,  birthday 
or  bridal  day,  preface  to  a  book  and  peroration  to  a  speech, — 
the  grace  of  Christ,  the  love  of  God,  and  the  communion  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Here,  too,  is  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  Chris- 
tianity—  a  Triune  Jehovah.  If  Christ  be  not  God,  the 
apostle  is  guilty  of  idolatry  in  this  blessing;  for  he  says  first 
the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  next  the  love  of  the  Father,  and 
next  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  If  the  Holy  Ghost 
be  not  a  person,  then  this  benediction  is  absurd.  Surely  the 
apostle  does  not  mean  the  communion  of  a  metaphor,  or  of  a 
26^ 


306  THE  APOSTOLIC   BLESSING. 

figure  of  speech ;  but  of  a  person.  Therefore,  what  we  call 
the  union  of  three  persons  in  one  God  seems  to  be  the  very 
core  and  substance  of  Christianity  itself.  It  is  the  tree  that 
grows  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God,  — a  Triune  Jeho-- 
vah,  —  and  its  leaves  are  all  the  doctrines,  and  its  fruit  all 
the  graces,  of  the  Christian  character. 

This  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  never  stated  in  the  Bible, 
as  it  is  in  the  Scotch  Confession  of  Faith,  or  in  the  English 
Articles,  as  a  dry,  metaphysical  doctrine,  but  always  as  a 
doctrine  embosomed  in  enlightening,  comforting,  or  practical 
relationships.  For  instance,  it  is  in  one  passage  (1  Peter  1 : 
2),  *'  Elect  according  to  the  foreknowledge  of  God  the  Father, 
through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  unto  obedience  and  sprink- 
ling of  the  blood  of  Christ."  Wherever  it  is  mentioned,  it  is 
always  associated  with  precious  and  practical  truth.  God 
is  love;  the  Father  is  electing  love,  the  Son  is  redeeming 
love,  the  Spirit  is  regenerating  love.  Father,  Son  and  Holy 
Ghost,  —  one  God,  —  is  love. 

How  wonderful  the  fact,  that  each  person  in  the  blessed 
Trinity  should  have  a  definite  share  and  part  assigned  in  the 
Bible  in  our  Salvation  !  We  are  baptized  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  How  great  a  thing 
must  man's  salvation  be,  that  a  Triune  Jehovah  is  it  author, 
its  Agent,  its  beginning,  its  accomplisher,  its  end  !  How 
deep  the  ruin  that  requires  so  vast,  so  awful,  and  yet  glorious 
an  interposition  !  Let  us  not  doubt  that  sin  and  our  ruin 
are  real  things,  when  it  required  the  grace  of  Jesus,  the  love 
of  God,  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  renovate 
and  restore  us. 

We  go  into  the  visible  church  baptized  in  this  name ;  let 
us  go  into  coming  months  and  years  blessed  in  this  name. 
Let  us  pray,  each  year  that  comes,  that  this  benediction  may 
go  with  us.  Our  poverty  will  thus  be  sweetened,  our  riches 
will  be  sanctified,  our  trials  will  work  together  for  good  to 


TUE   APOSTOLIC    BLESSING.  307 

US,  seeing  that  we  love  God,  and  are  the  called  according  to 
his  purpose.  Let  this  blessing  rest  upon  our  families,  our 
congregations,  our  kingdom,  and  upon  the  whole  people  of 
God,  scattered  throughout  the  world.  Let  the  past  be  closed 
with  this  benediction ;  let  the  future  go  forth  consecrated  by 
it ;  and  upon  us,  and  all  we  love,  at  home  or  far,  far  away, 
may  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  the  com- 
munion of  the  Holy  Ghost,  descend.     Amen. 


